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If this is any indication of the shape of things to come, then Exalted might actually be showing signs of moving towards being a game accessible to new fans once again. Exalted has had a rocky history, and despite being a huge fan of the game from its earliest days I think it's fair to say that the game has catered to it's audience more and more without really trying to reach out to new players. You really have to proselytize the game to entice new players, and all too often the focus is on the extreme, dinosaurs in fighter jets cliche that cropped up midstream through 2nd Edition. Plenty of people love that about Exalted, and read jokes like that as a positive "you can do anything!" statement, but there's always been a significant audience who is turned off by the kind of absurdity that all too often became the norm in fan circles.
Masters of Jade is not that kind of book, though it has value for the die-hards like me who will buy anything published for the line these days. In terms of talented, passionate writers Exalted has never been in a better place than it is right now. I'm not sure any White Wolf game ever has, going back to its 90's heyday. What they've laid out in Masters of Jade is much more than just a guidebook for integrating the Guild as an interesting, useful and mechanically supported actor within your games. I might be imagining it, but what I see between the lines is a return to a world without boundaries. Exalted has become a well-mapped sandbox, and most of us who follow or play the game are well acquainted with all of the toys. What this book does so well is question our assumptions that we already know everything about Exalted there is to know. Trust me, we don't.
On virtually every page, there are mysteries and hints of things we've never heard of before. For someone like me who has become rather accustomed to a well explained setting with no new secrets, these aren't just plot hooks. They're reminders that Exalted used to be a world without limits, before we knew precisely how many Exalts there were, precisely when, where and why the gods of Yu Shan did everything from make the grass grow to the sun shine, or the secret identities and agendas of every NPC. It's a reminder that there are still places on the map that can rightly be labeled "here there be dragons", and it does it without discarding what's come before. It just expects more from its audience than a bunch of Pavlov's dogs slavering at the site of warmed over concepts we've all heard before.
That's my philosophical reasoning for why any Exalted fan, or even seeker of curiosities, should buy this book. It makes the world exciting again. Other people here will no doubt write exceptionally good reviews of the bureaucracy system found in its Appendix, which in any other game line would rightfully be a marquee chapter of its own. It's light, extremely flexible, and probably the best large-scale rules addition since the introduction of Overdrive mechanics by many of the same authors when they operated under the Ink Monkeys banner. I won't rehash the details here, except to say that it's worth a purchase by itself. What you'll get in addition are four chapters brimming with more creativity than any release since Scavenger Sons, back when Creation was new.
The wonder is back, and the future of this game is very bright indeed.
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