[Exalted] 1st versus 2nd

[Tom Zunder]

How much do 1st and 2nd Exalted differ?
Can you run and use 1st ed scenarios with 2nd ed with no changes, some
change or total rewrite?
Do the 1st ed supplements work with 2nd ed or are they too different?
Is it worth still buying 1st ed stuff?

Thanks for your feedback.

[Daniel Hohenberger]

Post by Tom Zunder
How much do 1st and 2nd Exalted differ?
Can you run and use 1st ed scenarios with 2nd ed with no changes, some
change or total rewrite?
Do the 1st ed supplements work with 2nd ed or are they too different?
Is it worth still buying 1st ed stuff?

Setting hasn't changed much, just continued some years down the road. If you
rely on stats from the scenarios, there's some work for you to do. If you just
let yourself be inspired by the stories, there should be no problem.
I wouldn't buy any 1st ed crunch books, flavor is fine.

hth,
Daniel

[Richard Clayton]

Post by Daniel Hohenberger

Post by Tom Zunder
How much do 1st and 2nd Exalted differ?
Can you run and use 1st ed scenarios with 2nd ed with no changes, some
change or total rewrite?
Do the 1st ed supplements work with 2nd ed or are they too different?
Is it worth still buying 1st ed stuff?

Setting hasn't changed much, just continued some years down the road.

I do not think this is correct. As far as I can tell "now" is still RY 768.

[Richard Clayton]

Post by Tom Zunder
How much do 1st and 2nd Exalted differ?

The mechanics have received a huge upgrade, most notably in combat.
Combat is now quicker in the real world sense, as it has fewer die
rolls. There's also an explicit "social combat" system. The corebook
includes rules for mass combat, both physical and social.

The Martial Arts Ability now covers Brawl as well, and Resistance
subsumes the previous role of Endurance. There are two new Abilities:
War, which is a new Dawn Caste skill devoted to large-scale warfare, and
Integrity, a Zenith skill which acts as Resistance in social combat.

The Charm cascades have been revised and some of the dead wood has been
removed. There's less overlap between Charms and several
mostly-redundant Charms have been combined. For example, Iron Raptor
Technique and Sandstorm-Wind Attack are now a single Charm. Solar Charms
in general have been re-balanced and several of them are substantially
stronger or less costly.

Every Ability now has five identical Charms: First (Ability) Excellency
is the simple die-adder. You can buy autosuccesses with Second (Ability)
Excellency, or reroll with the Third (Ability) Excellency. These three
basic Charms require only one dot of Essence and one dot in the relevant
Ability, and they can be upgraded later with two further Charms,
Infinite (Ability) Mastery and (Ability) Essence Flow, which allow
scene-length Ability buffs and free combo effects, respectively.

I'd say it's worth the purchase for the new rules alone. I do feel
there are some differences in the game vision of Second Edition, but
this is easy to ignore.

Post by Tom Zunder
Can you run and use 1st ed scenarios with 2nd ed with no changes, some
change or total rewrite?
Do the 1st ed supplements work with 2nd ed or are they too different?
Is it worth still buying 1st ed stuff?

I would say 1e stuff is still quite worthwhile. The only difficulty
lies in converting 1e Charms to the 2e format; I'd love it if White Wolf
would release a general conversion guide, but I suspect reprinting the
Charms in 2e books makes more sense from a business standpoint.

Post by Tom Zunder
Thanks for your feedback.

You are welcome!

[David Shepheard]

Post by Richard Clayton
I would say 1e stuff is still quite worthwhile. The only difficulty
lies in converting 1e Charms to the 2e format; I'd love it if White Wolf
would release a general conversion guide, but I suspect reprinting the
Charms in 2e books makes more sense from a business standpoint.

White Wolf have made a free PDF to help people convert from "Warcraft" to
"World of Warcraft" rules, so I think they would consider releasing a
conversion vor Exalted if people asked them politely.

[Richard Clayton]

Post by David Shepheard

Post by Richard Clayton
I would say 1e stuff is still quite worthwhile. The only difficulty
lies in converting 1e Charms to the 2e format; I'd love it if White Wolf
would release a general conversion guide, but I suspect reprinting the
Charms in 2e books makes more sense from a business standpoint.

White Wolf have made a free PDF to help people convert from "Warcraft" to
"World of Warcraft" rules, so I think they would consider releasing a
conversion vor Exalted if people asked them politely.

You may be right. On the other hand, there isn't all that much to
convert from 1e to 2e; the biggest changes are the two different
abilities (Integrity and War). I'd handle it something like this:

1) Your 2e Resistance is the higher of your 1e Endurance or 1e
Resistance. The dots from the lower ability can be applied directly to
your Integrity rating or exchanged for bonus points on a 1-for-1 basis.
All bonus points must be spent before the next play session. The ST has
final say on how these bonus points can be spent; applying them to
Resistance is the obvious choice.

2) Your 2e Martial Arts rating is equal to the higher of your 1e Martial
Arts or 1e Brawl rating. The dots from the lower ability can be applied
directly to your War rating or converted to bonus points on a 1-for-1
basis. All bonus points must be spent before the next play session. The
ST has final say on how these bonus points can be spent; applying them
to Martial Arts is the obvious choice.

3) Charms that no longer exist (such as Excellent Strike) may be
exchanged for another Charm of the same Ability (such as the First Melee
Excellency).

4) AT THE ST'S OPTION, players may exchange Charms with changed
functionality for similar Charms: Frex, if you despise the way Dipping
Swallow Defense now works, your ST might allow you to exchange it for
the Second Melee Excellency.

5) Players may keep Charms they bought in 1e, even if they do not
possess the 2e requisites. (For example: Tiger Warrior Training
Technique now requires War, not Performance.)

Thoughts?