Piggybacking on the "what system to run WoD games in" question, do you have any suggestions about systems to run a game similar to Exalted for players who like aspects of the setting (but with less grimdark) and the high powered nature of the characters?
(With reference to this post here.)
That’s another one of those “it depends” things. Exalted isn’t exempt from White Wolf’s talent for producing games that are all over the map tone-wise, so there are a lot of ways we can take this, even with the “less grimdark” qualifier narrowing the field.
If you’re most interested in the Final Fantasy strand of the game’s inspirations, you might have a look at Anima Prime. Interestingly, though it pre-dates Exalted’s third edition by nearly five years, Anima Prime anticipates many of its features, including wagerable multi-tiered dice pools and a non-attritional resource model – though what it does with them is considerably less baroque!
If you’re more about the “every fantasy and sci-fi anime you’ve ever seen” kitchen-sink setting that Exalted evolved into during the latter part of its second edition, you could try Tenra Bansho Zero. I’m not sure I’d really call it less grimdark than Exalted, but at the very least it’s coming at the grimdarkness from a whole different cultural perspective – which isn’t unexpected, as it’s a localised Japanese title.
If the Greek tragedy angle grabs you the most, you may get some use out of either Agon (if you’re aiming for heroic but non-godly PCs) or Nine Worlds (if you’re more in the mood for straight up gods). Note that Agon’s publisher has chosen to withdraw it from sale pending the publication of a second edition (currently due out around June), so you may have to poke around for a used copy if you want to try it out.
Finally, if you’re most into Exalted’s gonzo sword-and-sorcery fantasy antecedents – or if you just get a kick out of gratuitous He-Man memes – you could check out Masters of Umdaar. It’s not a standalone game, requiring Fate Accelerated Edition to play, but they’re both pay-what-you-want, so you probably aren’t going to break the bank picking up multiple books.
