I was browsing the White Wolf forums when I found this thread about Exalted. In specific, how powerful Solars are and when one player complained that their Storyteller (ST) didn't want high level charms because they were too powerful. Well, I commented on that, but given the response, it's pretty obvious that I'm probably playing the wrong game system.

I play Exalted because it has some cool concepts, the polarization of Exalted types is nice, and it has a over-the-top feeling that works well with having a good game. However, I don't know the escalation of players where each new charms or spell is just more powerful than every other one. Mainly because I have a harder time coming up with a really epic opponent for my gaming group after a certain power level.

But, I think Exalted, more so with Solars, comes down to one thing:

Exalted is about being awesome, then going somewhere else to be even more awesome.

That thread really points it out. Most of the time, it is people claiming that it is the right to have army-slaying powers in the sake of balance with other army-slaying powers in the game. Everything needs to be more and more powerful until you can basically rule the world.

Which is fine and all, but what challenge do you have when you can kill gods? Primordials? The game already has rules for doing that now, and these new charms (from the First Age) are going to be even more powerful to make it more efficient to kill gods and Primordials.

It comes down to challenge. When I run a game, I want to make sure that every adventure is a challenge, something you feel good about succeeding at the end of the night. I don't want to run a game about letting the players just win, then set up another situation they can just win the next session. But, that seems to be overall belief that Exalted is, from multiple different communities. It's the movie 300, in a way. You know the beefy guys in red are going to win, its just a matter of how impressively they do it.

I think Exalted is getting a bit too awesome for me.