Recent content by JBowtie

I've just started running the "Curse of the Crimson Throne" adventure path as a True20 campaign set in 1837 London (using the gunpowder rules from the True20 Freeport book). Before that we had a couple of campaigns set in my own setting, and an evil, take-over-the-world campaign that involved a...

Well, if you can get hold of the 16-page "Player's Guide" you could probably help without exposing yourself to spoilers. :) I have not read Ms Stevermer's books; I will have a look next time I am round to the book store/library. I haven't quite decided what to do about healing yet; while it...

In a couple of months I'll be starting a new campaign, and after seeing the first couple issues of "Curse of the Crimson Throne" thought it would be not too difficult to adapt to 19th-century London. Class divisions, gypsies, exploited orphans and mysterious oriental societies are all key...

Well, you can buy it in a normal bookstore, in the fantasy section... rather than being an under-the-counter purchase the contents would lead you to expect.

When I saw this, I immediately thought of the the Merry Gentry books from Laura K. Hamilton. (The answer there is Merry's aunt Andais, ruler of the Unseelie Court). I find her books to be good inspiration for a modern fey setting - I just wish the pacing wasn't so glacial. Mind you, its thinly...

True20 is quite good for a variety of genres. Note that the full-size version comes with 4 campaign settings in the core book - I don't know if they're in the pocket edition.

From Stone to Steel was from MonkeyGod Enterprises, available nowadays in PDF form - I think Highmoon Media acquired the rights. It covers the weapons and armour from each age in great historical detail. There's also Lost Prehistorica from Dark Quest Games; you can read my review here . The...

Actually, I don't consider it an issue. In sci-fi settings, the adept can be used for psionics, telepaths, and aliens. In hard sci-fi or modern settings where psionics is not relevant, you're only losing one role and a handful of feats. And the True20 Companion gives you a lot of leeway in...

Well, we just had our character-building session for my campaign, and wound up with a completely different dynamic than I expected. Four of the players are siblings, and the fifth character is the family curse. :-) Most interesting. Now, families are just as bad (or worse!) for infighting...

I've been going through my copy of AEG's Evil; they have a whole chapter on evil campaigns. Really the easiest option is a mission structure like you mention; it helps cement and focus the team so they don't devolve into petty squabbling. You can combine this with a powerful boss to prevent all...

My next campaign is going to be a light-hearted, "take-over-the-world" game with lots of action. Trying to get a feel somewhere in-between Order of the Stick and Munchkin. I'm looking for suggestions to help me pull this together on short notice (first session is Tuesday!). Resources such as...

Since my wife is a psychology major, I'll pipe in on the addictive quality. Firstly, massively multiplayer games (MMOs) are designed to be addictive. The designers want you to keep paying them every month, so they need to get you deeply immersed in the game. If you keep an eye on game...

OK, now I see where you're coming from. I think you're better off using Elements of Magic or Mythic Earth for combining powers. You can mimic other source materials with the True20 magic system, but it's strength lies in having powers that are versatile. Fire Shaping is a good example here, as...

I had exactly the opposite experience. In our group, we simply treat the spells the way we treat skills. The player describes the result they want, I assign a Difficulty, and they roll. Just as with skills, I can either make up charts for specific effects, or I can pick a number that seems...

Why don't you simply make all skills class skills? That's the approach taken by True20, and the only effect I've seen in my game is that people are much more creative when putting together character backgrounds. The big benefit from a GM point of view is that I can double-check character stats...