Does Exalted have a basic rules equivalent?

[Anymage]

In my last session with my D&D group, one guy wanted to try his hand at DMing and went for gonzo action. It was a hit, and I couldn't help but think about all the charms that were effectively being showcased.

I don't want to have to ask everyone to buy a whole new game just to give them a taste of Creation, but at the same time it'll be a ton of mental overhead to simultaneously explain all the rules and have to adjust to all the wacky stuff that exalts get up to. So is there any simple, free stuff I can send out to give them a taste of the rules engine and what exalts can do, so they can more easily pick up basic characters and start shaking the world up?

[Lord Raziere]

Nothing official, at least nothing that is out right now.

Exalted: Essence which will be a rules-lite version of Exalted is in the works, but no confirmed release date as usual.

for Exalted 2e there was Qwixalted, or Kwixalted? I don't remember, but it was supposed to be a lighter version of Exalted but was never official.

all the rules lite players right now don't even use the Exalted engine and instead use Fate or Godbound variants, so your going to have to wait like everyone else for Exalted: Essence which is probably the closest your ever going to get to a basic rules engine thing for Exalted.

I mean, if you want a self-contained scenario with five pre-generated characters to introduce them to its world, there is always Tomb of Dreams which is real cheap and is meant to be an introduction, but other than that? not much.

[KatsOfLoathing]

It's not quite the same thing, but there is Godbound (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/185959/Godbound-A-Game-of-Divine-Heroes-Free-Edition), which is basically Exalted in a significantly simplified, d20-based rules engine. Same gods-among-men, broken-world, gonzo-combat feel but not quite the same level of character creation depth.

[Knaight]

Not yet. There's one in development at the moment, and given the release schedule and the concept involved it will probably be out in a year or three.

[Morty]

You can start out by having them make mortal characters and showing the basic systems without the weight of Charms and such. But that's rather more time-consuming.

[Grod_The_Giant]

There's a fan project here (http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/exalted/1354764-exalted-reincarnated), though I have no idea how it runs.

And as mentioned, there are plenty of simpler systems covering the same thematic ground, but those will be very different rulesets.

[Tyrrell]

I'd run straight from the tomb of dreams Jump start.

It's $2 and it summarizes Exalted 3 in about 20 pages.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/208891/Tomb-of-Dreams-an-Exalted-3rd-Edition-Jumpstart

[ihatevnecks]

I'd really suggest looking into Godbound, especially if your group already knows/enjoys D&D. It's an OSR game, so they're going to be familiar with at least some concepts. The base PDF is free, and if you buy the premium/advanced/whatever version, it includes additional Words (basically charm sets) and powers that directly mimic various Exalt character types and martial arts. It's probably the best game for off-brand Exalted, if you're really set against using Exalted's own system.