>I've noticed over the last few years that "wildly imaginative" can
>often be read "unfathomably pretentious", especially where White
>Wolf's output is concerned. Although if Mark Rein-splat-Hagen wasn't
>involved, I suppose it might be palatable.

Well, I can't really argue with you on this, since neither of us (I'm assuming) has actually read Exalted. I think my favorite overall WW game, in terms of setting and feel, is Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade. Far less gloom-and-doomy than any of the other games, and it pulls of a wonderfully epic feel. It's like a more worldly version of Ars Magica (which I think was the purpose; they even talk about troupe-style play, which is one of Ars Magica's lynchpins). What I've read of Exalted just strikes me as something as wildly different and effective at its purpose, as, say, GURPS Technomancer. It's got me excited in a way I haven't been excited about any White Wolf product since Aberrant (which is good, but was slightly disappointing, for reasons I've tried to define but can't).

>Ah. Exalted is to the World of Insufficient Light as
>Earthdawn is to Shadowrun, eh? Interesting.

Yeah, pretty much. Except that White Wolf is promoting Exalted as a prequel, while FASA never confirmed the relationship between the two (to my knowledge, anyway).

>The thing that ticks me off about all the White Wolf material I've
>seen, aside from the consistently excruciating pretention level, is
>the fact that they're all based on the central theme, "Your character
>is inevitably doomed.[1] Try and do stuff for as long as you can,
>but sooner or later, no matter how careful you are, you're going to
>have to start all over."

Well, pretention is more in the playing than the game, and much of what's in the books is for the purpose of building atmosphere, mood, and theme. The amount of gloom-and-doom also depends on the storyteller and gamers. Vampire and Hunter make hope pretty hard to sustain, but in Werewolf, Mage (especially 2nd edition, which I vastly prefer over Revised), Changeling, and Wraith, hope is possible, and vitally important. Yes, you're facing towering odds, and you'll probably die in the fight, but without hope, Garou enter Harano, Mages can go nutso or join the Nephandi, Changelings cease to *be* changelings, and while Wraiths are already dead, for them there's the hope to go beyond ghosthood. And in Kindred of the East, you've sunk about as far as it's possible to sink, and now you've attained a chance for redemption by crawling back from Hell itself. And even the Cainites have a shot at Golconda, which means they transcend their curse.

Yes, you can get mired down in politics. Yes, you can die in the process. But that just means you've got near-insurmountable obstacles. But they're not totally insurmountable. And, no, these characters aren't necessarily heroes, but they can become them.

-- Sean --

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