PreviewMaterial/NephPlayersGuide
Ok, admittedly I'm terribly biased since I did both the Merits and Flaws and God-Blooded chapters, but I think I will comment here.
God-Blooded have 5 core heritages, of which the Half-Caste are broken into sub-Heritages. No, you don't get a mix... ever. You're only ever one type of heritage, and there is a system in the book to help you figure out which one you are if mommy and daddy are different species. I didn't want another "Abomination" situation.
With that cleared up, let's look at the supposed misnomer of the "Exalted Players Guide." First, this *is* a book for Exalted the game, even if only a single chapter is directly for the Exalted as beings. Yes, the Exalted are the center stage, but that's why they have 5 hardbacks so far. In this case, the Exalted PG is precisely what most WW PGs have been: a grab-bag of the extras that didn't fit into the corebook and all the other playable critters somewhere beween mortal and demigod.
So you have Merits and Flaws. Well, some of the old and expected traits from the World of Darkness are there, though the mechanics are generally different. In general, you'll see a lot more variable point traits that are extremely customizable instead of fixed costs. I like options. I like them a lot. The other thing you won't see are Traits that can be simulated with other Traits (at least not very many). You'll see Merits that modify or expand Traits and many, many ways to customize your character. The other thing you'll see is my big bold caveat that Storytellers don't have to allow any Trait or combination of Traits they don't want to. The system CAN be abused, but I spell out pretty clearly that the Storyteller has to police that. Players can't just point to the book and say "I want that because it's there." Not a chance. If these optional rules tweaks break your game, it's your fault. A great number of Merits and Flaws are totally over the top in true Exalted fashion.
But then there are the god-blooded. Well, as one person noted, unless you're a scholar, you probably don't divide the heritages out. You just say, "Magical parents, eh? So you're a god-blood, ok." But why so many? Well, besides the fact that they actually have different powers but remain about the same in power, thematically they're pretty different.
In general, Ghost-Blooded are tragic and angsty. Many of the half- dead are suicide commandos and spies for their undead ninja clan families, the eyes and hands of the honored ancestors. It's a pyramid scheme of sorts, since Grandfather is already dead and he isn't going anywhere, so every generation adds another tier. It's the mafia with Arcanoi. Or maybe you're a deathknight's squire or a Deathlord's deep cover operative or maybe daddy still loved mommy after he died and you're the product of a creepy romance. Think Ghost if Demi's character found out she was pregnant at the end. Or hell, maybe it's creepy comedy with the Adams Family.
Contrast this gloom with a minor elemental God-Blood. Yeah, daddy dallied with a dryad and I'm the local hero. My mother... well, not my real mother, but the woman who raised me... she doesn't like me so much, but that's ok. I get along with my half-siblings just fine and I'm tough as an oak. I stopped the brigands. It was great.
You'll see more when you read the book and I don't want to give too much away, but there are reasons for dividing them and there is a lot that is both crunchy and delicious about this book. Also, and I can't stress this enough, the Dragon Kings rock my world. I'm in awe. I love them. I'm having a lizard love affair every time I read it. I hope you like this book, but more importantly, I hope you give it a chance. I'm a big fan. We all are. We don't want to ruin Exalted, but options are what gaming is all about.
