So, I finished reading M20 Melody Through the Mirrorshade Lens. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, my favorite of the four tales is easily Fell Winds by Travis Legge.

(Unfortunately, Fell Winds was the only one of the four stories which really impressed me. The other three tales reduced the quality of the anthology down to two stars for me. I just didn't get the impression the other three writers were showcasing their best work. Still, at the low price of $3.99, you can afford to take a chance on this book's four tales.)

As for Fell Winds, I greatly appreciate the author's choice of having a big chunk of the plot occur in 1848 A.D. Antarctica, allowing for a Technocracy adventure where Virtual Adepts and Etherites were still members of the Technocracy.

Granted, I’m already a fan of the timeless premise of a small number of explorers investigating a mysterious location. Likewise, I’m a sucker for the dilemma of do-we-bring-it-back-for-autopsy versus do-we-nuke-it-from-orbit-it's-the-only-way-to-be-sure.

(My ONLY complaint about Fell Winds is the pair of high-tech contact lenses. Thankfully, the writing does so much so well that these contact lenses didn’t ruin the rest of the story for me.)

Fell Winds also demonstrates several great examples of how to improve a story by adding sensory details. The tale does a good job of steampunk without getting cheesy, of 1950s sci-fi movie tropes without getting tiresome, of sci-fi/action/horror without getting edgelord militaristic, and of Mage without getting dystopian.

Very well put together, solid binding, and arrived in greatcondition

Such a tight, excellent introduction to this world. I can't wait to see the larger world, but most importantly I cant wait to play a session!

This is a well constructed campaign setting prefaced by a story in which the population is driven underground where they are not masters of their domain. This setup allows the GM some flexibility to fill in the gaps, maybe adopting a D&D approach, something post apocolyptic, or even something Lovecraftian, given the nature of the creatures described within these pages. With that flexibility, there's enough in the rules to provide plenty of guidance, so the authors have struck a good balance between defining the world and leaving some things to your imagination. The artwork is a welcome accompaniment and stylistically matches the written content, certain to help your players solidify within their minds the images you're describing. As the industry releases more role playing material into the market, it's great to see fresh ideas and approaches from smaller groups with a passion for creating fresh ideas and approaches. The World Below is a worthy addition to the pantheon.

Great writing and a fun world! My friends and I really enjoy these indi roleplaying games, looking forward to exploring this world!

This game is fantastic. The setting is filled with detailed lore and an interesting premise. The game allows powerful characters from the start with the capability of growing yet more powerful, but it balances things in a way that even very powerful characters remain playable rather than totally game breaking.

Naturally, I have some quibbles. If you add on the expansions, the Solars feel generic while the other types become special. Also, there are too many charms to keep track of and many of those are less than inspiring.

Still, while it is not a perfect game, it is definitely highly enjoyable and I would personally recommend it for anyone that enjoys dramatic high fantasy.

There is so much mage fuel in this book! I would STRONGLY recommend it to mage storytellers. ToP critically examines mage culture and gives tools to explore magic through the lens of people throughout the world, not just in North America / Europe.

Tables to randomly give mage characters Character Traits; Aspirations; and Obsessions that drive their interactions.

1. Language: The writers are consciously opening a door to make Mage the Awakening a more inclusive and culturally conscious community. It is telling that the second page has a panel on Appropriation and Cultural Concerns. New lexicon's to address game concepts like mana and column/cabal/coven add depth and relatability to the setting. The writers make it clear that the implied diversity of magical traditions referred to in the Mage core books needs to be made explicit.

2. History: The first chapter provides a history of the magical world focusing on cultures throughout the world far better than any of my social studies classes. It highlights the diversity of practices and organizations throughout history and how the consolidation into core rule books the Diamond Orders was not a universal not instantaneous development. Many of the big takeaways from the 1st edition Factions books are established into canon in the timeline lending validity to ALL of the first edition faction sourcebooks being accurate in 2e, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Crucially this section also begins the process of Naming the “Nameless Orders” that had never been highlighted by ANY first edition book.

3. Worldwide: Further exploring the world in Chapters Two, Tome of the Pentacle lays out cities from around the world and gives mysteries and traditions from around the world that enable a game to be set in those locations. No longer will the many international fans of the gameline be stuck running games in Boston! There is a section for region and a separate section that reveals cities Awakened populations have been gathering. These aren’t just places where magic happens; these are HUBS! The cities given include: Accra Ghana; Alexandria Egypt; Baghdad Iraq; Banff Canada; Berlin Germany; Bloemfontein South Africa; Brazzaville Republic of the Congo; Budapest Hungary; Buenos Aires Argentina; Burlington Vermont USA; Cap-Haitien Haiti; Cotonou Benin; Dili Timor-Leste; Dwarka India; Florence Italy; Haifa Israel; Harbin China; Hilo Hawaii; Karachi Pakistan; Krakow Poland; Kunming China; Kyzylorda Oblysy Kazakhstan; Male Maldives; Maracaibo Venezuela; Merida Mexico; Monaco; Monteverde Costa Rica; Narok County Kenya; Nassau The Bahamas; Ndola Zambia; Okinawa Japan; Paramaribo Suriname; Prague Czechia; Qazvin Iran; Quito Ecuador; Reykjavik Iceland; San Juan Puerto Rico; São Paulo, Brazil; Seattle USA; Singapore; St. John New Brunswick Canada; Tamuning Guam; Toowoomba Australia; Ulaanbaatar Mongolia; Ushuaia Argentina; Vimy France; Yakutsk Russia; and Zanzibar Tanzania

4. Outerworlds: This book brings in Astral Realms lore and visits extra dimensional spaces

5. Magical Laws: Chapter Three updates the Laws part of Sanctum and Sigil to 2e. There is discussion of how many Awakened outside of the Diamond orders still embrace the gold laws but may have VERY different Silver and Bronze laws

1. New York City After dedicating most of the book to diversity and inclusion, Tome of the Pentacle then gives all of Chapter 5 to one city that never sleeps. ToP does focus on the original Lenapehoking who lived in the area before being pushed westward and on the diverse communities of the city. It fleshes out the city in a way that it does not do for the other hubs giving NYC named NPCs and as many pages as all the other mage cities combined. While many of the concepts and characters could be modified to be used in other locations I would have preferred to see a chapter dedicated to any other city on the list instead. The resources in this chapter would make it easy for a novice storyteller to start a game there. This chapter pushes starting storytellers into starting in NYC. If you want to know about NYC mage societies I suggest you go watch Occultist Anonymous instead of reading this chapter anyways.

My overall take away: 9.5/10. Buy it. Show Paradox that we love this gameline. Mage the Awakening provides a lens to critically examine the world, including itself.

This is an excellent edition of a great game. In many ways Changeling was always many games rolled into one--this game gives you the tools to play the one you want. It includes the rules for European fae as well as those non-European kithain. Changeling is a worthy game for playing modern fantasy.

Of especial interest to me are the new additions. I am a huge fan of the Autumn Sidhe. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of new adversaries in the thallain.

The biggest flaw in this book derives from its advantages--its very comprehensiveness makes it somewhat unwieldy to use and difficult to find things. The PDF is indexed and searchable, which mitigates much of that.

A great update to Exalted that will hopefully make it more accessible for new players. The rules seem elegant, not too complicated, not too simple. The art ranges from adequate to good and is in line with previous Exalted books, if that matters. There are rules for converting 3e characters but practically speaking the rules are different enough that a 1-1 conversion isn't always practical. The book gives the impression of having been extensively playtested. The best part is that the powers don't take up hundreds and hundreds of pages, a disease many RPGs (including D&D) have suffered from. I do wish there were more example enemies and guidance on making enemies, but you can't have everything. I hope to run a one-shot soon, so we'll see how it plays out!

I would like to preface my review with three things. First, Exalted is my favorite RPG. Full stop. It's not even remotely a close contest. Second, I've been playing Exalted since its launch in 2001. Third, I was immensely skeptical of Essence when it was announced and concerned about its effect on the game line as a whole. If you hit up official (and unofficial) OPP/Exalted channels you almost certainly can find the receipts. All of that to say this.

To call Exalted: Essence a game design marvel would be doing it an immense disservice.

While it's not as "light" of a game as some like hoped, it manages to thread the needle on simplifying and streamlining the systems in a way that is FAR less of a hurdle for newcomers to the game while still being recognizeably 3rd Edition and acting as an excellent stepping stone, is still immensely satisfying to play, and possibly most importantly, still FEELS like Exalted. The fistfulls of dice you're going to be throwing around aren't going to be as large as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd edition (more of a serving bowl of dice than the prior editions' bucket), but newcomers are still going to be rolling more than they likely ever have before. On top of it all, no/minimal prep Exalted is actually possible for the first time in almost twenty years.

The book itself is clear, legible, and full to the brim with excellent and evocative art. The organization is clear and coherent so you can easily jump to whatever chapter you might need to narrow any searching you might need to do. The introduction to the setting, concepts, and all the different types of residents in Creation is substantial enough to clearly communicate what it needs to while not being too deep for newcomers to wade into. (Not dissimilar to the setting information in the old Laws of the Night Revised books)

In conclusion, Exalted: Essence is fantastic, regardless of if you're new to Creation or a long time resident.

You really did it Sean! This elegantly simple adventure is fun and engaging

Essence takes the systems from third edition and actually makes them understandable and accessible. It feels very beginner friendly and like a nice gateway into OnyxPath games

Ok, I just grabbed the newest version and kudos. Total upgrade from head to toe. Addresses issues people have brought up in the past. I love the Stances. Kudos to you. Ku-flipping-dos.

Badly written, by someone who really wants to preach progressive politics at you. The words "there, I said it" have no palce outside of a self-satisfied teenager sassing another teenager, while the book is otherwise very, very thick with the author's annoying fringe politics. There are some interesting ideas in the book, but you need to wade through too much other stuff to rescue them. Save your time and avoid this.

(I was tempted to go through the book with a black marker to remove the lectures and things I'd keep and things I'd ditch for any campaign I'd run - unfortunate that most post-WW content is so much less usable)

The TL;DR here is that Essence is a good rule set for a complicated game - it isn't an easier system, it is simplified though and makes characters more manageable to play - something Exalted has needed for a while now.

Long form...

So, I have been playing Exalted since the 2nd edition. Yes, with the Warstriders, First Age that kind of resembled a fantasy, manga look at Corporate America, and then bought Exalted 3rd Edition as a POD book. It took two men to carry it out of the van (they thought it was a mattress). Exalted 3rd Edition is fantastic - I really love it - but to play the game requires an large investment in terms of time, effort and comprehension. More so even than 2nd edition, I think.

Exalted Essence fixes that. You still have the kernel of the Exalted system there, but it makes the game a little easier to begin playing. There is lots to recommend this game, IMO...

• All the splats are here. You can now play Abyssals in Exalted again!
• The book doesn't waste too much space rehashing the same lore as is in 3rd Edition core - no wasted pages!
• The system rules are pretty concise and easier to find
• The Venture system allows for awesome 80s montages of glory!
• The 25 skills (+) is now a reduced 14 skills making each of them more useful in terms of what they cover. No longer do you have to have larceny AND stealth, for example.
• Compared to Exalted 3rd Edition core, the artwork is way better. I was really pleased to see this. There is also an effort to represent different peoples which, in the modern political climate, seems important? Not so much to me I guess, but other people think its a good idea. Fine. ((I still think the standard for Representative art was set for the D&D Rules Cyclopedia - don't believe me? Go check it out! People from every corner of the globe there...))
• There is a STORYTELLER section that gives some hints on running the game! Exalted 2nd Edition had a couple of pages. 3rd edition? I don't think there is a section like that that I can recall... It isn't the most awesome advice ever, but its a damn site better than nowt!

There are some quibbles with the game too, however.

• There seems to have been a real effort to cram as much as possible into the book and sometimes this means that sentences are not always as clear as they might be. Not a terrible crime, for sure.
• I dont think the 9 abilities from Exalted were so much of a problem that they needed to be reduced to 3? And why not call them Physical, Mental and Social? The attributes seem very much inspired by Fate Accelerated. This might be an area I house rule later for my own games.
• A mention for Actual Plays... Why? IDK if that is really important to most players? It felt... out of place to me anyway.

Now... I do have one major concern. In the future, when splats are released, will there be Essence mechanics released beside the full 3rd edition rule set? If the answer is no, I'd be concerned we're being forced into a D&D and AD&D situation that TSR were going through in the 80s (and the better game was D&D, sorry Mr Gyax). In a two-tiered system, with such a slow output for additional materials, is Essence a one-and-done affair?

So, I guess the real test for the game is this: AM I GLAD I BOUGHT IT? The answer is a yes, very happy. I have already begun planning a mini-campaign set in a remote corner of Creation to try out the rules, learn them thoroughly myself. I think the rules put the onus on RULINGS over RULES again, something that no AI can ever emulate (Take that, WOTC). Mostly, Essence makes the idea of running a game manageable again - and manageable means there is an increased likelihood of games actually being run.

You should get Essence if you want to get into Exalted, or if you want to introduce others into the game.

You should get Essence if you want to modify the level of crunch in games to something a little more manageable.

You should defo buy it for the art.

A ton of hard work and love has gone into this. It is worth the price tag for the PDF if you get nothing else.

Hope this was helpful to someone.