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Published by: White Wolf Type: RPG Medium: Hardbound Reviewer: Randall Constant After night comes the dawn and even the great white wolf must eventually enter the light. With Exalted White Wolf breaks from the angst ridden World of Darkness, while staying true to the mythos that it created in that world. In the World of Darkness we saw the dark side of human nature embodied in the form of monsters of folklore. This world demonstrated humanity's primal urges to be scheming, parasitic, greedy, intolerant, wrathful, apathetic, tortured and oblivious. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, magi, and Fae embodied different aspects of these traits yet gave us one ultimate conclusion: humanity is the greatest monster of them all. Exalted moves us out of this dark mirror and puts us in a place before time, before the World of Darkness was dark. In Exalted the player takes on the role of a Celestial – a near divine being. Long ago the Unconquered Sun gave power to noble humans to become larger than life. These heroes were called Solar and were challenged with the task of protecting humanity, and being the ultimate examples of good and enlightenment. They were served by Lunar whose power came from Luna, and advised by * who gained their abilities from the Stars. Finally at the bottom of the Celestial ladder came the Dragon Blooded the foot soldiers, whose power came from the elemental dragons. The Celestials rule a world where reality was motile, and potential limitless. However, even in this world of light, and limitless room for growth, the first seeds of humanity's fall take root. Corruption and jealousy leads to the overthrow of the Solar and the Celestial order. The prosperity of the past is lost, and humanity is left wondering where it went. Solar are now renegades, hated and despised but desiring still to save humanity. This is where the player comes in. Will the Sun remain unconquered? Can the Solar restore their lost honor? Can they save their charges from themselves? Can you? When I first saw Exalted I wasn't sure about it. I mean how many fantasy RPG's can the market tolerate right? However, just like White Wolf's World of Darkness titles the game has a subtle depth to it that is missing from most fantasy RPG's. Believe it or not, Exalted is original. The game also sticks to familiar territory when it comes to mechanics. If you like the Storyteller system (which I think is one of the most intuitive, and easy to learn systems in role playing) you will feel right at home. It also has continuity with the World of Darkness. It's easy to see the beginnings of the world to come. I like the fact that you play someone that is genuinely good in this game. You're not a parasite, or a terrorist, or a tortured soul. The player is a true hero, and savior. Also, as a side-note, those familiar with The Book of Nod now have a detailed description of the Children of the Sun that it warned against. I liked that. Also, White Wolf did not forget to add an historical connection for reality. The Unconquered Sun was an actual deity. He was popular with the Romans for a time and was the patron deity of Emperor Constantine the Great before his conversion to Christianity. Exalted is beautifully bound, and its art gives the feel of high fantasy. Its font and page layout are visually pleasing. Playability: | |||||||||||||
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