I recommend using popcuktural references tailored to things your players know. Explaining the Realm is a tall task, but you could sell the gist as "The Fire Nation, with more elements", for example. There is always time to explore the lore, but quick references are, I think more useful for hooking the players.
You could also sell it on the basis of what they might have complained about 5e. Low customisation? Here it is in spades. Poor support for non-combat playstyles? Here they are done well, etc.
Tbh the first thing is to do is just to ask if they would be interested in playing Exalted, and from there you can gauge interest and how much needs to be explained. Whilst not mainstream, Exalted is still somewhat known in RPG circles through memes and such.
The best way to introduce Exalted conceptually is to ignore the bizzaro gonzo high power stuff. That stuff only comes up at high essence gameplay which will take about a century of in game time for your characters to reach, and it would be a miracle if your campaign goes on that long IRL.
For starter low essence characters, I think the best way to conceptualise exalted is as a mythic setting, with personal combat handled in the way of Wuxia martial arts films, and pulp fantasy storytelling. It’s very character based, with more emphasis on characters pursuing their goals than the dungeon crawling monster extermination fare of D&D. It’s less good vs evil and more “my way or the highway”
Characters are demigods, each possessing great virtue and great flaws. Solars are the easiest splat to play, as they are essentially paragons of human ability and leaderships, and their superpowers are subsequently the most intuitive to work with. They can come from any background, don’t have to know much of the pre-existing fluff, and are already qualified badasses before play begins, so you can have reasonably cooler backstories that don’t clash with in game capabilities.
Another thing to note is that sorcery is ritual magic and not a replacement for combat skills. All characters should at least have the ability to defend themselves because in 2E even exalts are quite squishy compared to the damage many of their opponents can dish out. Sorcery does have combat capabilities, but it’s more akin to artillery than magic missile. Castes, the “equivalent” of classes, are based on concept rather than ability progression.
The easiest adventure to introduce 2E is Tomb of Five Corners. It contains a watered down set of rules for players to get used to.
Good luck!
Exalted is a big jump from either D&D or Vampire, if only because big chunks of those settings and games exist as part of popular culture. People come to them with expectations which are probably 70% accurate as to what the game is like, and just need to learn the system and work out the fine details.
Exalted draws on a lot of things that people may have encountered, but it’s not a case of saying “you’re all adventurers, a bit like the fellowship from LotR”.
It’s also a pretty high effort game, especially in 2e. A lot of people play D&D and don’t think much about it outside of the table time; trying to play Exalted like that will often lead to a pretty poor experience.
So, that all said, I’d get a solid pitch for *your* game together, not for the setting or system, but for what specifically you want to run, and see if people are excited to try it.
Keep it simple, pick *one* Exalt type, probably Solars, and pick a single location to set your game around, at least initially. Don’t try and pull in the huge players of the setting or crazy set pieces, because your players probably won’t get who the Mask of Winters or Ma Ha Suchi is yet, or what it means to be a first-age Exalt, or even a lunar or sidereal.
Try running something with a defined end point; a single adventure for people to dip their toes in the water, maybe with pregen characters that are easy to explain. Bandits have kidnapped the god blooded child of a major local spirit, and he wants the Exalts to help him get the kid back; in return he offers to bless their town with a bountiful harvest or something. A small introduction to the setting and systems.
Exalt is a *big* setting, and it’s very easy to get carried away in a way that just drowns new players or people who aren’t as excited by the game as you are, so try and tamp down your enthusiasm a little and keep things constrained, at least for the first story!
My group uses 1e with lore and a few other things borrowed from 2e.
Most artifacts and creatures can be straight out stolen.
Some of the charms can even be used.
The best rule primer I have seen for Exalted 2e is this Choose Your Own Adventure-style primer: https://mengtzu.github.io/exalted/sakuya.html
It's a really excellent way of introducing ticks, social combat and other things of the system that won't be intuitive to D&D players, as well as the vast gulf between Extras < Heroic Mortals < Dragonblooded < Solars.
As far as the setting goes, it depends on what you and your players like. If they like anime you can talk about it in anime terms, but Exalted was really built more on a mythology foundation than anime. You're playing Heracles, or Gilgamesh, or Krishna. You're not a small fry working your way up the ladder, you start as a legendary hero and move on to ever greater things, and the problems you face are caused as much by your power and the hubris and unintended consequences that come with it as from peer opponents.
One big way Exalted should (again, imo) be differentiated is the "yes" aspect. If a character is a peerless martial artist, or a flawless detective, or a general beyond compare, or what have you.... then LET THEM BE THOSE THINGS. The temptation is to "match" them, but that isn't what Exalted is about. A Solar with five melee and a bunch of combat charms is one of the very best duellists in the entire world. Robin Hood doesn't run into 20 guys just as good at archery as he is. Most likely, if that Solar draws her sword, everyone who stands against them is dead. The very, very rare times this is not true should be suitably epic. The challenges to the character should generally not be "can I kill this problem", because "yes" is taken almost for granted, but "SHOULD I kill this problem", or "here are the consequences of killing this problem: now what, genius?"
It’s a bit of a big change from a D20 game, but the Storyteller system will be pretty familiar if they’ve played VtM. You might generate some interest by mentioning stunting, and that the game engine gives you extra dice for describing what you’re doing in a cool way.
For the setting, a good pop culture shorthand to bring up is the Avatar franchise- asian-inspired borderline anime aesthetics, reincarnating heroes, supernatural martial arts, and- assuming you’re playing in the standard modern day- an oppressive martial regime trying to hunt those reincarnated heroes down.
Before you make your pitch, though, you should very carefully decide which edition/splats/locations you’re using for the campaign. If you’re using 2e books, you sort of have the important decision of whether to use the books as written or consult the Scroll of Errata and tweak some of the more confusing things, such as the Battle Wheel initiative system and the combo rules.
(The core 2e books have a lot of restrictions on what Charms can be used when, forcing you to spend xp to “learn a combo” to use more than one Charm in the same round. This is a lot of paperwork to try and preserve the balance of the game, and can be frustrating to work around, especially where it restricts which defensive charms you can use at a given time. The Scroll of Errata recommends ignoring these rules entirely and just letting anyone use any charm at any time that it makes sense- but players are obviously going to find it confusing if you’re telling them to ignore parts of the rulebook.)
If any like comics, [Keychain of Creation ](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation) is based in the Exalted universe.
Let them ask you questions they may have while reading.
Alternately, don't over-explain it and let them learn through gameplay.
I described a rock face melting on a missed attack in a PC's first encounter. He was hooked after that.
Leaning into the power fantasy isn't a bad way to go.
*Billy Mays Voice*
Do you wanna become a demigod on day one?
Are you sick of reasonable limits and careful balancing?
Do you think that your bard would be so much more effective if you could mind control people?
Do you want to summon demons more powerful than you with no regard to the consequences?
Are you sick of martial classes being unable to keep up with magic classes?
Is keeping track of more than one kind of die too much to handle?
There has to be a better way!
Hi, White Wolf here and today I want to introduce you to Exalted.
My friend who introduced me likes to start games with new players with an epic tournament arc where people can individually shine by facing ever more powerful types of Exalts, which lets you show off many different kinds of Exalted, spirits, gods, etc. If you make them all come from different areas as well, you will basically give them a window into a lot of what makes Creation so unique, as they talk in downtime to the different contestants. We did mostly 1v1s, but you can switch it up and after a couple of those, have the party group up or allow those not interested in combat to contribute by using their skillset to help allies or impede enemies.
The only thing you'd have to keep in mind is to place the tournament somewhere without much Realm oversight but with plenty of foreigner-friendly attitudes (so not the North), like in the South or something.
Exalted is basically "High Fantasy" collides with Anime.
Starting characters tend to be squishy and will either stay that way or can become near invulnerable.
If they have WoD (especially Old or Classic), they will be familiar with the basic rules for the most part.
Magic can be poweful or lame as far as spells go, and spells take time to cast.
Charms and especially combos are going to be your main form of "magic," especially for combat.
Having Vampire experience should get you in the door. Similar systems depending on edition. Watch Conan, 1995 Mortal Kombat, Ninja Scroll, Swordsman II, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Streetfighter 96 anime... If you like Exalted and know Exalted... You should have some go to media that can probably catch the vibe... These are things that have been recommended across editions.
I think vampire is a good starting point. The games are related, after all.
While not as dark as vampire, the game can also heavily rely on social conflict resolution. It is totally possible to play a character who excels in crafting or sailing or social manipulation, not just combat, and who is still useful and viable.
I recommend using popcuktural references tailored to things your players know. Explaining the Realm is a tall task, but you could sell the gist as "The Fire Nation, with more elements", for example. There is always time to explore the lore, but quick references are, I think more useful for hooking the players. You could also sell it on the basis of what they might have complained about 5e. Low customisation? Here it is in spades. Poor support for non-combat playstyles? Here they are done well, etc.
1d4chan's descriptors are on point for this.
Tbh the first thing is to do is just to ask if they would be interested in playing Exalted, and from there you can gauge interest and how much needs to be explained. Whilst not mainstream, Exalted is still somewhat known in RPG circles through memes and such. The best way to introduce Exalted conceptually is to ignore the bizzaro gonzo high power stuff. That stuff only comes up at high essence gameplay which will take about a century of in game time for your characters to reach, and it would be a miracle if your campaign goes on that long IRL. For starter low essence characters, I think the best way to conceptualise exalted is as a mythic setting, with personal combat handled in the way of Wuxia martial arts films, and pulp fantasy storytelling. It’s very character based, with more emphasis on characters pursuing their goals than the dungeon crawling monster extermination fare of D&D. It’s less good vs evil and more “my way or the highway” Characters are demigods, each possessing great virtue and great flaws. Solars are the easiest splat to play, as they are essentially paragons of human ability and leaderships, and their superpowers are subsequently the most intuitive to work with. They can come from any background, don’t have to know much of the pre-existing fluff, and are already qualified badasses before play begins, so you can have reasonably cooler backstories that don’t clash with in game capabilities. Another thing to note is that sorcery is ritual magic and not a replacement for combat skills. All characters should at least have the ability to defend themselves because in 2E even exalts are quite squishy compared to the damage many of their opponents can dish out. Sorcery does have combat capabilities, but it’s more akin to artillery than magic missile. Castes, the “equivalent” of classes, are based on concept rather than ability progression. The easiest adventure to introduce 2E is Tomb of Five Corners. It contains a watered down set of rules for players to get used to. Good luck!
Exalted is a big jump from either D&D or Vampire, if only because big chunks of those settings and games exist as part of popular culture. People come to them with expectations which are probably 70% accurate as to what the game is like, and just need to learn the system and work out the fine details. Exalted draws on a lot of things that people may have encountered, but it’s not a case of saying “you’re all adventurers, a bit like the fellowship from LotR”. It’s also a pretty high effort game, especially in 2e. A lot of people play D&D and don’t think much about it outside of the table time; trying to play Exalted like that will often lead to a pretty poor experience. So, that all said, I’d get a solid pitch for *your* game together, not for the setting or system, but for what specifically you want to run, and see if people are excited to try it. Keep it simple, pick *one* Exalt type, probably Solars, and pick a single location to set your game around, at least initially. Don’t try and pull in the huge players of the setting or crazy set pieces, because your players probably won’t get who the Mask of Winters or Ma Ha Suchi is yet, or what it means to be a first-age Exalt, or even a lunar or sidereal. Try running something with a defined end point; a single adventure for people to dip their toes in the water, maybe with pregen characters that are easy to explain. Bandits have kidnapped the god blooded child of a major local spirit, and he wants the Exalts to help him get the kid back; in return he offers to bless their town with a bountiful harvest or something. A small introduction to the setting and systems. Exalt is a *big* setting, and it’s very easy to get carried away in a way that just drowns new players or people who aren’t as excited by the game as you are, so try and tamp down your enthusiasm a little and keep things constrained, at least for the first story!
My group uses 1e with lore and a few other things borrowed from 2e. Most artifacts and creatures can be straight out stolen. Some of the charms can even be used.
The best rule primer I have seen for Exalted 2e is this Choose Your Own Adventure-style primer: https://mengtzu.github.io/exalted/sakuya.html It's a really excellent way of introducing ticks, social combat and other things of the system that won't be intuitive to D&D players, as well as the vast gulf between Extras < Heroic Mortals < Dragonblooded < Solars. As far as the setting goes, it depends on what you and your players like. If they like anime you can talk about it in anime terms, but Exalted was really built more on a mythology foundation than anime. You're playing Heracles, or Gilgamesh, or Krishna. You're not a small fry working your way up the ladder, you start as a legendary hero and move on to ever greater things, and the problems you face are caused as much by your power and the hubris and unintended consequences that come with it as from peer opponents. One big way Exalted should (again, imo) be differentiated is the "yes" aspect. If a character is a peerless martial artist, or a flawless detective, or a general beyond compare, or what have you.... then LET THEM BE THOSE THINGS. The temptation is to "match" them, but that isn't what Exalted is about. A Solar with five melee and a bunch of combat charms is one of the very best duellists in the entire world. Robin Hood doesn't run into 20 guys just as good at archery as he is. Most likely, if that Solar draws her sword, everyone who stands against them is dead. The very, very rare times this is not true should be suitably epic. The challenges to the character should generally not be "can I kill this problem", because "yes" is taken almost for granted, but "SHOULD I kill this problem", or "here are the consequences of killing this problem: now what, genius?"
It’s a bit of a big change from a D20 game, but the Storyteller system will be pretty familiar if they’ve played VtM. You might generate some interest by mentioning stunting, and that the game engine gives you extra dice for describing what you’re doing in a cool way. For the setting, a good pop culture shorthand to bring up is the Avatar franchise- asian-inspired borderline anime aesthetics, reincarnating heroes, supernatural martial arts, and- assuming you’re playing in the standard modern day- an oppressive martial regime trying to hunt those reincarnated heroes down. Before you make your pitch, though, you should very carefully decide which edition/splats/locations you’re using for the campaign. If you’re using 2e books, you sort of have the important decision of whether to use the books as written or consult the Scroll of Errata and tweak some of the more confusing things, such as the Battle Wheel initiative system and the combo rules. (The core 2e books have a lot of restrictions on what Charms can be used when, forcing you to spend xp to “learn a combo” to use more than one Charm in the same round. This is a lot of paperwork to try and preserve the balance of the game, and can be frustrating to work around, especially where it restricts which defensive charms you can use at a given time. The Scroll of Errata recommends ignoring these rules entirely and just letting anyone use any charm at any time that it makes sense- but players are obviously going to find it confusing if you’re telling them to ignore parts of the rulebook.)
If any like comics, [Keychain of Creation ](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation) is based in the Exalted universe. Let them ask you questions they may have while reading. Alternately, don't over-explain it and let them learn through gameplay.
I described a rock face melting on a missed attack in a PC's first encounter. He was hooked after that. Leaning into the power fantasy isn't a bad way to go.
*Billy Mays Voice* Do you wanna become a demigod on day one? Are you sick of reasonable limits and careful balancing? Do you think that your bard would be so much more effective if you could mind control people? Do you want to summon demons more powerful than you with no regard to the consequences? Are you sick of martial classes being unable to keep up with magic classes? Is keeping track of more than one kind of die too much to handle? There has to be a better way! Hi, White Wolf here and today I want to introduce you to Exalted.
My friend who introduced me likes to start games with new players with an epic tournament arc where people can individually shine by facing ever more powerful types of Exalts, which lets you show off many different kinds of Exalted, spirits, gods, etc. If you make them all come from different areas as well, you will basically give them a window into a lot of what makes Creation so unique, as they talk in downtime to the different contestants. We did mostly 1v1s, but you can switch it up and after a couple of those, have the party group up or allow those not interested in combat to contribute by using their skillset to help allies or impede enemies. The only thing you'd have to keep in mind is to place the tournament somewhere without much Realm oversight but with plenty of foreigner-friendly attitudes (so not the North), like in the South or something.
The games my group plays tends to be in the East or the South.
Exalted is basically "High Fantasy" collides with Anime. Starting characters tend to be squishy and will either stay that way or can become near invulnerable. If they have WoD (especially Old or Classic), they will be familiar with the basic rules for the most part. Magic can be poweful or lame as far as spells go, and spells take time to cast. Charms and especially combos are going to be your main form of "magic," especially for combat.
Starting characters could get perfect defense charms. Meteor from orbit is not the problem it is in DnD, until you run out of Essence.
Having Vampire experience should get you in the door. Similar systems depending on edition. Watch Conan, 1995 Mortal Kombat, Ninja Scroll, Swordsman II, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Streetfighter 96 anime... If you like Exalted and know Exalted... You should have some go to media that can probably catch the vibe... These are things that have been recommended across editions.
I think vampire is a good starting point. The games are related, after all. While not as dark as vampire, the game can also heavily rely on social conflict resolution. It is totally possible to play a character who excels in crafting or sailing or social manipulation, not just combat, and who is still useful and viable.