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Originally Posted by Varkias
I can't quite agree that the book only supports fantasy, when 3 of the sample settings aren't fantasy.
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It depends how you define fantasy, and how the main core book defines its skills. The three 'non fantasy' skills are Drive, Pilot, and Medicine right? Well, medicine is clearly applicable in a fantasy setting (despite fantasy's reliance on magical healing, normal healing is also appropriate). Drive and Pilot, while superficially modern in nature, could equally be applicable to, for example, wagon trains and Leonardo DaVinci style gliders, neither of which are beyond the scope of a fantasy game. They could also apply to fantastical Dwarven steam constructions that are so popular in Warcraft. However if the game has no skills for computing or electronics then it is clearly not supporting a contemporary setting, and a futuristic setting would likely require things like Cybernetics and similar far-future skills too.
I've not read the book myself, but I would like to defend the reviewer here in his statement that the product doesn't support non-fantasy. It's not about which modern-day skills ARE included, it's about the ones that are conspicuous by their absence.
It's pretty clear what this product set out to do though, and it makes no pretence of anything else to its credit. It is simply a 'dumbed down' version of D20 with a lot of the superfluous twaddle washed away. Though I am still not a fan of any class system, I will agree that the "Reductio Ad Absurdum" approach of True20 is far more likely to appeal to myself than the traditional "One Archetype = One Class" approach, since it leaves more room to create the character you want to create. I don't think it necessarily matters that it doesn't address genres other than Fantasy since that is clearly not what they set out to do. I wouldn't at all be surprised however if this book wasn't followed up by a long string of sequels to spin the money out longer. Put it all in one book and you've got one load of sales. Put it into a series and you can milk the money cow for several years. I can't say I'm fond of this ethic, but it's a sound business strategy adopted by most of the big players in the industry.
I'm still uncertain if the rumours about D20 4th Edition are true (specifically regarding its NOT being an open license) but I can see where the publishers are going with this product. They're looking to fill the Free Usage void with a product similar enough for old fans but fresh enough for the new. It'll be a good trick if they can pull it off, and while I'm still undecided on True20 I think I'd prefer it a great deal to D20 3E.
I mean, hallelujah, someone finally noticed that your damn attributes don't really DO anything in the game!
Ash