[RPG]: True20, reviewed by Tim Gray (3/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11392.phtml

Tim Gray's Summary:

Good as a new way to play d20 games if aspects of d20 annoy you. Not quite there as a generic rulebook.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Tim Gray]

There may be a number of things that become clearer the more I look at the book, so sorry all. Here's the first.

Fatigue from power use: "rank" does actually seem to be a standard term throughout the game for ability with a skill or power, rated at level + 3. I think the problem was that I'm used to this term being used differently: I assumed it meant varying levels of something and was confused because here skills and powers are either on or off. Anyway, it is flagged up at the start of powers, so my bad.

The target number for the Will save to resist Fatigue does indeed go up with level: 10 plus half power's rank (round down). But the base Will save from the Adept class increases at a similar rate (though out of step). OK... so why not just simplify it to always be 10? I *think* the answer to that is multi-classing. The power's rank is based on your number of Adept levels, whereas your Will save will be whatever the aggregate of your class ("role") levels gives. And, of course, people will have attribute bonuses and feats that come into play. So, you just have to do the sums each time you level up.

I should also note that the Fatigue save difficulty increases by 1 each time you use a power within a short period, if I haven't said so already. There's a box with ideas for customising the way power fatigue works in your game.

[committed hero]

Many people prefer a more abstract system than traditional hit points. In your view, is scrapping them in favor of a damage save worth the extra complexity? Can there be a system that addresses the objections of a hp system yet remains as simple?

[Tim Gray]

Originally Posted by committed hero

Many people prefer a more abstract system than traditional hit points. In your view, is scrapping them in favor of a damage save worth the extra complexity? Can there be a system that addresses the objections of a hp system yet remains as simple?

I should perhaps be careful here to avoid spamming my own review (!)... my own games use a damage save system that is definitely simple, whatever else anyone might want to say about it. So it can certainly be done.

What's in True20 is one of those things that I look at on the page and recoil from just because it seems like a load of info to take in without any underlying elegance to structure it. One point on the damage track does this to these two things, then the next point does something else to two different things, then the next one hybridises them... But when I say that you should bear in mind that I've played very little d20 and no True20 at all, so my mental ground is not prepared. In play it might settle into people's brains painlessly.

Whatever you think of hit points, they're dirt simple to understand. It's just that they come with lots of consequences.


Addendum: something else re damage is that it preserves the "damage disconnect" found in D&D, that is, however well you hit makes no difference to damage (randomly triggered criticals don't count). In D&D landing a telling blow depends on two lots of randomness working in your favour. In True20 I suspect it will be less of a problem because damage is fixed, not random. For instance a fairly strong attacker (Str +3) with a longsword (+3) always gives a target of 21 for the Toughness save to resist damage. I think I'd try it as is but have my house rule waiting in the wings, in this version something like "each full 10 by which you beat defence gives +2 (say) to the damage target".

[xenongames]

Originally Posted by Tim Gray

The target number for the Will save to resist Fatigue does indeed go up with level: 10 plus half power's rank (round down). But the base Will save from the Adept class increases at a similar rate (though out of step). OK... so why not just simplify it to always be 10? I *think* the answer to that is multi-classing.

It is fair to say that if you use a power at its full strength, the maximum number of Adept levels you have, that the power never becomes easier and the Fatigue save essentially says the same, but if you use the power at a lower strength (casting fireballs instead of meteor swarms), then it is less likely to leave you fatigued? Therefore, to avoid being fatigued, an Adept would be advised to use powers at a rank lower than the Adept's own level? Is that fair?

[Dan Davenport]

Nice review, Tim.

I wonder why they decided to use Dex as the attack ability in True20, but not in Blue Rose. I'd think that would have better suited the style of the setting.

[Tim Gray]

Originally Posted by xenongames

It is fair to say that if you use a power at its full strength, the maximum number of Adept levels you have, that the power never becomes easier and the Fatigue save essentially says the same, but if you use the power at a lower strength (casting fireballs instead of meteor swarms), then it is less likely to leave you fatigued? Therefore, to avoid being fatigued, an Adept would be advised to use powers at a rank lower than the Adept's own level? Is that fair?

Unless I'm totally mistaken, rank never changes - apart from when your level changes. It's a property of the character, not the power itself. It would certainly be possible to rule that for your game an Adept can "hold back".

Now some of the powers have different specific uses mentioned which may have different target numbers to use. But that just means a user with a higher (Adept) level has a better chance of performing them reliably.

[Tim Gray]

Originally Posted by Dan Davenport

Nice review, Tim.

I wonder why they decided to use Dex as the attack ability in True20, but not in Blue Rose. I'd think that would have better suited the style of the setting.

Thanks Dan.

I guess it's one of those annoying things - you put the product out, then look at it again and go, "Hey...".

You can find ways to defend with Str or Dex, though, which might even survivability out a bit.

[Unseelie]

There's also some new, more story-oriented stuff. Each character has a Virtue and a Vice - pretty much nicked from Storyteller...

To be fair, Storyteller nicked that idea from Ars Magica... and I think either Pendragon or perhaps Chivalry & Sorcery had a similar concept.

[wml]

Originally Posted by Tim Gray

Unless I'm totally mistaken, rank never changes - apart from when your level changes. It's a property of the character, not the power itself. It would certainly be possible to rule that for your game an Adept can "hold back".

There are a couple feats that raise effective rank of powers. See page 33.

"holding back" is an official rule. See page 36, under saving throws.