What was the bad? (Don't have the Transformers, but my son has the Power Rangers one [I think same system?]).
Yeah, same system.
THe bad parts:
- starting characters feel incompetent. Not horribly incompetent, but still not competent.
- dice mechanics left players confused as to where they were unless using a table and counter on said table.
- Skill & Specialization issues
- Higher skill without specialization results in higher chance of success but lower chance of critical success.
- Higher skill with specialization results in not only vastly more success, but also much higher chance of crit.
- awkward equipment requistion system
- multiple cases where rules are poorly worded, and required using the examples to guess the correct interpretation
- the process for crits and extremely high rolls mention they stack, but are unclear how. It's possible to get rolls up to 38; TNs can be as low as 10. If you roll double the TN, it is double effect. If you roll triple the TN (and yes, we did have this happen) it's triple effect. Criticals do double effect. It's explicit both happen, but not clear weather double TN and Crit is ×3 or ×4, and triple TN is ×4 or ×6. (I lean towards the latter interpretation)
- classes rigid frameworks, more rigid than D&D 5E (despite being clearly riffing off D&D 5E).
- it uses d2
So, and example for #3
Joe has d8 skill. Joe is rolling vs a fairly typical 13. Joe is rolling 1d20 & 1d8, summing them. If the d8 maxes, it's a crit, so long as it succeeds numerically. so about 1 in 32 chance of crit (5-20 on d20, 8 on d8)
Now, fred has d6 skill, but is specialized... he rolls 1d20 & 1d6, & 1d4 and 1d2, and crits if the number hits 13+ on the d20 and the best other die, and either the d4 is 4 or the d6 is 6... but the success uses the highest non-d20 plus the d20. (It's explicitly called out in the rules.) d2 do not generate crits, but this means more than 1/4 of successful hits by a specialist will be crits for double effect.
This gets worse for higher rolls.
Improvement is in attributes and Perks (= Features & feats)
You have a class; it dictates what attribute is raised each level, excepting those levels set aside for subclass features (3, 6, 10, 17, 20). Each class also determines which perks one gets at that level, again, excepting the subclass levels, but also setting aside a handful of general perks: 4th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 19th.
Skills exist in 4 groups - one group per attribute.
Total levels plus specialties in an attribute's skills equal the level of the attribute. So... you might need to raise your Strenth so you can take Might (and thus fight better), but your class doesn't have Strength improvement until 2 or 3 levels on, you're stuck unskilled for those intermediate levels.
No Experience Points, per se... but advice to level up as direct fractions of a level...
Transformers (Essence20) p266 said:
The sample Troubled Waters, rewards players with a whole level for their characters. Generally, a Mission of its size would reward ¼ of a level. Longer or more challenging missions can reward ½ a level or rarely a whole level, but never more than 1 level.
So, milestone. But not entirely so.