S T O R Y T E L L E R S V A U LT S T Y L E G U I D E

Credits Special Thanks

Written by: Stephen Lea Sheppard Robert Hatch

Art by: Melissa Uran, Imaginary Friends Studios, HIVE Geoffrey C. Grabowski
Studios
John Chambers
Storytellers Vault Developers: Shane DeFreest &
Dhaunae De Vir Robert Vance

Layout and Design: Marcos M. Peral Villaverde Eric Minton

Exalted Created by: Robert Hatch, Justin Achilli and Brian Glass
Stephan Wieck

© 2018 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire:

The Masquerade®, World of Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and
Storytellers Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.

For additional information on White Wolf and the World of

Darkness, please, visit: www.white-wolf.com,
www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com.

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The Storytellers Vault Style Guide 4
Sensitivity, Cultural and Otherwise 4
Across the Three Editions 4
Pulp Mythology (Exalted First Edition) 7
Cosmic Hubris (Exalted Second Edition) 9
Epic Fantasy, Human Hearts (Exalted Third Edition) 11

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 Chapter One

The
Storytellers Vault
Style Guide
Welcome to the Exalted Storytellers Vault Style Guide. draw from complimentary inspirational sources. Do
This guide exists to help you create new material for any your research into the specifics of what you’re drawing
edition of the mythic fantasy roleplaying game Exalted. from; don’t just use pop culture. Remember that player
characters can arise from any nation or people in the
Whether you’re new to creating work for other readers setting, so it’s important to write that setting from the
or an established freelance writer, this guide should help perspective of the people who call it home.
you understand and better create material for Exalted.
Note that we don’t assume you’ll be writing exclusively As a game about vast, exploitable power in the hands of
for the current version — this guide supports all three fallible human beings, Exalted often draws on unsavory
editions of the game. material and acknowledges the systemic abuses that
arise whenever two populations of vastly disparate pow-
Whether you’re fleshing out an element of the setting er coexist. We strongly recommend including content
only ever covered in brief or adding an entirely new city, warnings when dealing with these issues; we also rec-
nation, or culture to the map; writing allies or foes for ommend against reveling in them. To contrast dealing
use in others’ games; conceiving new Charms, spells, or with those issues, Exalted always strives to ensure play-
artifacts; writing entirely new play options such as new ers from marginalized demographics have spaces within
Exalted types; or even if you’re writing fiction, you’ll find the setting in which they can feel safe to play and plenty
this guide a useful starting point. of examples characters like them excelling.

Sensitivity, Cultural Across the Three Editions

and Otherwise Across all three editions, the “now” of Exalted has always
been Realm Year 768, five years after the re-emergence
Exalted pulls a great deal from non-Western historical of the Solar Exalted. The differences between editions
cultures. It’s easy to write offensive material drawn are in tone, approach, and specific details. New books
mostly from stereotypes; avoid this. Research the term have never advanced the setting’s present, nor has the
“orientalism” to start. Most Exalted cultures and lo- setting changed to reflect the events from novels or oth-
cations take inspiration from two or more historical er fiction — there is no metaplot.
sources — for example, the Realm is a combination of
ancient China and ancient Rome, while it exerts extra- But you don’t have to limit yourself to creating material
territorial control inspired by ancient Persia. The city- in that moment. Scenarios such as “Crusaders of the
state Lookshy draws from both Hellenistic Sparta and Machine God” in Time of Tumult or the book Return of
Tokugawa Japan. When creating a new setting element, the Scarlet Empress present optional timelines of events

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that might happen in future months or years unless rightfully influential, much of the fantasy that came after
player characters intervene; the Dreams of the First Age him owes greatly to his legacy, and so Exalted strives to
boxed set presents a look at one possible version of the make itself distinct by pulling from less obvious sourc-
distant past, and Shards of the Exalted Dream introduces es: historical epics and fantasy stories that predate The
“shards”—alternate versions of the setting, from the mod- Lord of the Rings’ popularity or which resist its influence.
ern era to space opera. We invite you to create potential Night’s Master by Tanith Lee, the first in her series The
scenarios, versions of historical periods, and new shards. Lords of Darkness, is chief among them. Exalted’s first
edition developer would mail copies of Night’s Master
Although this guide is broken up by edition, you need to freelancers who couldn’t find it themselves, and we
not confine yourself to the themes of the edition recommend anyone interested in creating material
you’re working for. If you prefer the high drama, mag- for Exalted pursue this book. Other sources applicable
itech-heavy second edition setting but wish to write for across all three editions are Lord Dunsany’s Gods of
the third edition rules, go right ahead, whereas if you like Pegāna; Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique stories; The Iliad
the expanded map and new locations introduced in third and The Odyssey; Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh,
edition but want to work with first edition mechanics, and Journey to the West; the Ramayana; the video game
we encourage that, too. Final Fantasy VII; and, honestly, every piece of media
listed in the edition-specific entries below — Exalted’s
Exalted’s standard for inspirational material is pre-Tolk- three editions tend to draw on the same influences but
ien and non-Tolkien—while The Lord of the Rings is emphasize different elements from them.

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Player character types in Exalted first edition include

Pulp Mythology mortals; the Solar, Terrestrial, Lunar, Sidereal, Abyssal,
and Alchemical Exalted; the Fair Folk; god-blooded; and
(Exalted First Edition) Dragon Kings. First edition tends to present each char-
Tone: The first edition of Exalted syncretizes many acter type in its own milieu, with the expectation of e.g.
tones, placing its heroes, inspired by super-powered pro- all-Solar or all-Dragon-Blooded games.
tagonists out of ancient myth and action anime, in a set-
Themes: The difficulty of using power for good, the inev-
ting with the dream-like characteristics of pulp fantasy
itability of the age’s turning.
worlds but ordered by often grim, “realistic” economics
and politics. More importantly, it rejects the apparent Setting Advice: Over the course of the edition, what
incompatibility between these, inviting players and sto- began as a new and undefined setting with a scant few
rytellers to play out a team-up between Cloud Strife and locations and character types detailed and huge swathes
Vampire Hunter D in Conan’s Hyboria under economic of entirely blank map became complex and elaborate,
siege by the British East India Company. Its protagonists and yet still with huge blank spaces needing filling. First
have great power but no certain knowledge of how to edition also tended to treat the setting as much smaller
use it wisely, and they’re surrounded by nations and than the map suggested, going into detail on the close
culture filled with injustice caused just as often by failed relationships between far-away places.
attempts at righteousness as descents into self-serving
corruption. Media: Michael Moorcock’s Hawkmoon; Glen Cook’s The
Black Company; Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun;
One of the hallmarks of first edition is the inevitability Ninja Scroll (content warning: sexual violence); Vampire
of the world’s end — first edition draws from both the Hunter D; Princess Mononoke; Crouching Tiger, Hidden
fantasy tradition of settings that are the prehistory of Dragon; Chrono Trigger.
modern Earth, implying that all the magic and heroes we
see will eventually fade and be forgotten, and the fantasy Game Design Advice: You’ll need to be clear whether you’re
tradition of settings that are the unimaginably distant working with the rules introduced in the first edition core
future of Earth, in which the world is old and tired, the rulebook, or the “Exalted Power Combat” revision intro-
most magnificent periods of history have already passed, duced in the Exalted Players Guide—books published after
and we are now elegizing the final spasm of activity be- the Players Guide support both variants of the first edition
fore the sun goes out and the sky caves in. rules, if you need examples of their differences.

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become highly customizable at higher Essence and can

Cosmic Hubris theoretically join the ranks of the Yozis themselves.
(Infernals-related setting material should especially
(Exalted Second Edition) carry content warnings, though.) There’s a bit more em-
Tone: Exalted’s second edition is at once more encyclo- phasis on crossover and mixed groups of different sorts
pedic and more emphatic. It goes into more detail about of Exalted and much more emphasis on high-Essence
the world right from the start, collating the sprawling Charm options for everyone.
setting presentation from first edition and using that
Themes: The inevitability of evil and the necessity of op-
greater detail to create a tight web of interrelation be-
posing it, the ultimate wretchedness of the self-serving.
tween its most influential figures, treating the world as a
vast drama between Creation’s powers — the Deathlords, Setting Advice: Second edition goes into much more de-
the Yozis, and the Incarnae — into which player char- tail in the locations it covers. It emphasizes high-level
acters are thrust. It focuses more on remnant magitech politics and diplomacy between far-flung powers over
(a term used only in this edition) than on other sorts of local politics between minor players. Almost every loca-
magic, and introduces the Dreams of the First Age boxed tion gets both traits for use with the Mandate of Heaven
set as its canonical First Age. It draws sharper lines be- domain management system and a sample mass combat
tween good and evil, and while it’s no less grim in places, unit.
its presentation is more frequently irreverent, with short
comics replacing fiction and often ending on punchlines. Media: Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light; Vampire Hunter
D: Bloodlust; Vision of Escaflowne; Tengen Toppa Gurren
Second edition repudiates first edition’s thesis of in- Lagann; Castle in the Sky; Zhang Yimou’s Hero; all Final
evitable endings—while the world is full of a thousand Fantasy games from IV onward; Koei Tecmo’s Warriors
specific dooms, to ensure Storytellers have plenty of games.
epic plot hooks and players have something important
to engage with wherever in the setting the game is set, it Game Design Advice: Second edition has extensive
also assumes the player characters will make a positive mechanical corrections available as the free electronic
impact on the setting, going so far as to mandate that Scroll of Errata, which we suggest you consult. Note that
all Exalted characters have an epic motivation to work this edition has two different options for domain man-
toward. agement rules — “Mandate of Heaven” first appeared in
the Exalted Storytellers Companion and is also available
As well as the player character types from first edition, on its own, while the “Creation-Ruling Mandate” system
second edition introduces the Infernal Exalted, who appears in Masters of Jade.

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Epic Fantasy, Human Hearts (Exalted Third Edition)

Tone: Third edition attempts to update the “feel” of first Setting Advice: Third edition enlarges the setting map
edition to more modern sensibilities. It brings down the and adds new regions like the Dreaming Sea. A hallmark
power level of typical antagonists a bit and disengages of its setting presentation is the “postage stamp;” de-
with the Yozis and Incarnae in favor of emphasizing scription of an area or polity will typically end with its
more local conflict spurred by more relatable concerns. relationship to its neighbors, but those neighbors, rather
Rather than supporting or repudiating the inevitable than being places fully detailed elsewhere, will be new
end of the world, it allows individual groups to choose close-by locations loosely-sketched with just enough
how much they want to engage with it. detail to “fit on a postage stamp.” It emphasizes estab-
lishing a setting that feels huge and worth exploring.
Magic in third edition is often personal and idiosyncrat-
ic, with unique sorcerous phenomena scattered about Media: The Book of Judges; Robert E. Howard’s The
the world and with each artifact having its own suite of Coming of Conan the Cimmerian; George R.R. Martin’s
powers shaped by its legend and its relationship with its A Song of Ice and Fire; Bleach (for the magic weapons);
current wielder. While remnants of what second edition Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind; Avatar: The Last
called magitech exist, they’re much scarcer and use the Airbender; HBO’s Rome; Dissidia Final Fantasy.
same Evocation system as other artifacts.
Game Design Advice: Third edition compresses the power
Third edition still supports (or intends to eventually) the scale, with previously Essence 5 powers now available at
classic character types, but is more open to the idea that around Essence 4 and with Essence 6-7 powers available
more types of Exalted could be waiting in the wings, hav- a 5, but past Essence 5, characters no longer increase in
ing been affecting the setting in their own way all along. power much at all. The Quick Character system allows for
Exigents especially are a catch-all category for unique the creation of antagonists using simplified mechanical
Exalts created individually by lesser gods for their own traits. Try to give spirits at least one Eclipse-OK Charm
purpose. Every character type is written with crossover each, with such charms being non-combat “utility” powers
in mind, under the observation that the standard Exalted suitable for stories where a spirit teaches a hero a trick that
group composition is roughly half Solars and half single reflects its nature. Powerful antagonists such as Deathlords
examples of other character types, who are not as all- ought not be written with shortcuts like “Has all Solar
around powerful but tend to shine in their own niches. Charms” as in previous editions, but need bespoke power
sets suitable for challenge with the Solar Charms in the
Themes: The diverse wonder of the world beyond the third edition core rulebook (which tend to define the upper
horizon, the systemic injustice of empire. limits of power available to player characters in the game).

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