Thus Spake Zargrabowski/ExaltedCombat

>>>My apologies for starting a thread similar to many others. I'm mostly a wargamer so I've been hanging out in Other Games Open exclusively since it started. I heard so many good things about Exalted I had to check it out. It looks like its gonna be the game that gets me back into roleplaying after a 5+ year absence.<<<

Okay, Exalted's core is a gritty, somewhat abstract man-on-man combat system. Characters can die of bleeding and post-injury complications very easily. Weapons are differentiated, armor is very effective and important, combat turns are 3 seconds. I think it has a nice Ancient World feel and if you run it on its own, it tends to be a sort of dark fantasy / eldritch horror game.

Exalted are demigods whose heroic stature is modelled by giving them lots of exceptions to the gritty core of the rules -- they use different infection rules, never need to worry about crippling injuries, can't bleed to death, etc. They have an intricate TCG-like duelling mechanic for fighting other Exalted and gods and so on.

Combat can be quite crunchy, especially if you are focussing on doing large multi-Exalt fights with all the trimmings.

Geoffrey C. Grabowski \\ Exalted Developer, WWGS\\ raindog@white-wolf.com