True 20 Fantasy

Akrasia

Procrastinator
Has anyone here used Green Ronin's 'True 20' system to run a fantasy campaign -- not including the 'Blue Rose' setting/campaign?

More specifically, I am curious about the usefulness of True 20 for a 'Swords and Sorcery' (interpreted broadly) style campaign, though I'd be curious to know about attempts to use True20 for a standard 'D&D-style' game as well.

Thanks!
:D
 

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Doesn't work for D&D style fantasy, but we did use it for fantasy.

The group I played in couldn't stand the damage save, but everyone loved how customizable and easy character creation was. Skills were overly cinematic... basically you knew them at high levels or didn't know them at all.

The magic is refreshing, though more of working on the fly than D&D, so that is a pretty large derrivitive there.

Damage Saves really take a lot of certainty out of GMs hands... you could take a foe down in one hit or take 20 hits. Your PC could die in one hit or not take damage for 10 hits. They have Hero points which can prevent death, but there is a horrable limitation - 1 per round. But it's primarily used to augment attacks & damage. So if you use it to attack and you die in that round, you can't use your Hero Point to come back. So many times PCs ended up not using it just for that fact.

Really once you get hit, you're screwed. You're either untouched, bruised or screwed. Once you go past bruised you get stunned & take penalties to all of your rolls. The next damage category is basically you holding your intestines in. If you take an action you start to die. And it's pefectly easy to get to that damage category in one hit.

Realistic? I think it can be so. Also more exciting than saying "well I have 25hp and they can only deal 12 or 18 with a crit so I'm pretty safe". But also in that realism you can charge into a room at full health and try to do something suave and get run in by a goblin.

The minions (mooks) don't have wound levels so if you damage them they're KOed or dead.

I think if you can focus on the aspects within the group and your storytelling, you can do a great Kick in the Dungeon Door game. But if you're looking for the mechanics to help that feeling out, I don't think so.

It's a great game, but maybe not for that same high fantasy D&D feel.
 

Thanks for your reply, Denaes.

I'm actually much more interested in True20 for Swords and Sorcery games (Howard/Leiber/Moorcock stuff). The 'D&D-style' question is not my main concern -- I was just curious. (For D&D-ish games I'd use C&C in any case.)

From what you said, True20 sounds pretty decent for S&S.

How much work is involved for the GM (in comparison to, say, 3e)?
 

Not much at all.

They have a bestiary of creatures in True20 (not a whole lot) and converting from d20 is pretty easy. There is an appendix to help you out.

We did some sample conversions, but nothing crazy.

It's a lot more rules light than most d20 games and is pretty good for some cinematic play.

Honestly as a GM I find it's easier to come up stuff on the fly than with standard d20. I think it helps that they don't use experience. The GM just chooses points to advance the players a level - normally every 3-4 adventures/sessions on average (like D&D).

My first character took me 6 minutes to make. Choose stats, choose feats, choose skills. Some of that time was reading feat descriptions.

As far as d20 & d20-like games, I'd rate the GM complexity extremely low. It's only snag is the possibility of needing to convert d20 monsters to True20 if you're a stickler for using a specific version of a monster/race.

I'd say the only d20 Monster/NPC method for GMs I like better is from Spycraft 2.0. Just choose stats and qualities (abilities) and add up the xp value. ThoughGMing is more involved in other areas in that game.
 

I've been using True20 for a weekly game I've been running since the beginning of September, and I have to say my group and I love it. However, this was only after an extensive play-testing period and making some changes to the system...

First, we increased the threshold for each of the levels of hurtitude with the damage save (Hurt if you fail by 1-9, Wounded from 10-14, Disabled at 15-19, Dying at 20+), which make fights a little less...well, deadly.

Also, by using the revised/errata'd version of the rules, things are even less deadly (mainly because you can be Wounded infinite times before getting Disabled, assuming you can keep rolling 20s on your Toughness save, just like with being Hurt).

As to the style of campaign it's been so far...well, I'll describe the major things that have happened; (note; this campaign actually has two sets of PCs and one set of players, an experiment which has been going quite well)

* The PCs went to visit a wizard for information, only to have information forced out of them magically, and then be swarmed by the traitorous wizard's minions.

* They made a daring journey through the wilderness, attacked by various evil spirits and unfriendly plants and so forth.

* They fought their way through the ruins of a goblin-inhabited dwarf-hold, eventually fighting the Goblin King himself.

* Much later, they found themselves in a town being opressed by the monks at the local abbey who owned the land; as well, creepy supernatural stuff was going on; ultimately, they uncovered some of the monks as evil cultists and saved the town

As for the next adventure, the PCs will likely be searching the half-flooded subterranean part of a large city for an artifact.

Oh, and I might as well describe the party, too...

Aelfgrim (aka Callondir Eredhil or somesuch): A tall, lanky fellow of a decidedly brooding nature, who just happens to be the descendant of an ancient hero, who has made it his quest to reassemble his ancestor's sword. He's a very skilled warrior, and a good leader and diplomat.

Kjiolik: An elf from the wild north, Kjiolik is a master of the magic of nature, specializing in ice magic; as well, he's a sneaky bastard, and could potentially survive indefinitely in the wild. He doesn't really have a mission, but instead follows his companions and does what he feels is right.

Sigrath: a skilled archer and childhood friend of Aelfgrim, Sigrath has harbored a grudge against demons ever since his parents were killed by one; he has made it his life's work to hunt them and those that would summon them.

Alamir: once a man-at-arms, the muscle-bound half-elf Alamir promoted himself to 'knight errant' when he got sick of guarding a castle all day every day. He is a brave warrior and has a winning smile, and can be quite intimidating when need be.

Ahadhran: a cynical, anti-social elf, Ahadhran gave up on mankind a long, long time ago. However, his pure hatred of orcs and trolls and other evil creatures has driven him to save idiot humans on more than one occasion. He is a skilled scout, archer, and a master of the surprise-attack.

Caranir: as the third son of a nobleman, Caranir knew he wouldn't ever have to actually rule anything, so he spent most of his youth with his face buried in books. As he got older, he was allowed into deeper and darker parts of libraries, and began reading tomes that contained actual magic. When he realized what knowledge and power there was to be gotten out in the world, he left home, travelling from city to city studying in the great libraries of every nation. As time progressed, he began travelling into wilder and more dangerous places, finally resulting in his meeting with a particularly treacherous wizard, who he has since sworn revenge against. Also, he now has a servant...errr...apprentice by the name of Norri.

Long story short, True20 has served us better than D&D ever would have for this kind of campaign, if only I'm too busy as a GM to spend an hour making each spellcaster NPC, and most of the PCs would have been, well, hard to build in D&D without being at a severe disadvantage or having completely 'wrong' abilities...I'm lookin' at you, Alamir and Kjiolik.

Anyway, it's just a very fun, no-hassle sort of game, so long as you're the kind of GM that make judgement calls that satisfy their players. It's especially good if you're the kind of GM that's impatient, and likes to cram a lot of fighting, roleplaying, and story all into the same session without losing out on quality or having to have super-human math skills and players that are just as good.
 

I enjoy it thusfar. I have run five sessions in my fantasy campaign and two sessions in my post-apocolyptic campaign. I will admit that I have not used too much "sorcery" yet, but the "sword" is working great.

Definately not a D&D "feel", but that is what I wanted ([fanboy] True20 answered what I disliked about D&D better than Unearthed Arcana, which did a good job as well [/fanboy]). I am actually running the games in a retooled D&D homebrew and find that I like the flavor a lot better. The True20 magic and combat rules have helped me get the flavor that I want out of the world.

The damage save does have an effect, and PCs have been holding back on their conviction point (hero point) usage in case they get hit (of course, after everyone has attacked, they can spend the conviction and gain an attack at the end of the round). So far, the players have gotten the better end of the "rolls" and have not had to feel the full effect of the damage save (only one PC knockout so far).

The game is easier to run (once you get the rules down) and I have even gotten my 7 year old daughter started with a female elf character (ranger-like).

Overall, I feel that the system does sword & sorcery well if you are looking for a gritty style. If you want a more heroic style, you may have to tweak it to increase survivability.
 

Galethorn said:
... Anyway, it's just a very fun, no-hassle sort of game, so long as you're the kind of GM that make judgement calls that satisfy their players. It's especially good if you're the kind of GM that's impatient, and likes to cram a lot of fighting, roleplaying, and story all into the same session without losing out on quality or having to have super-human math skills and players that are just as good.

Thanks for the info. I'm both an impatient and lazy GM -- hence my fondness for C&C. Since I'm looking for a game with a different (less-D&D, more S&S) flavour for a potential campaign, True20 could be my cup of tea.
 


Interesting. Is True d20 suited for one genre over another? I ask because I want to run a, for lack of a better term, pulpy campaign inspired by Edgar Rice Burrough's Pellucidar. Other people suggested Grim Tales, but some commented about d20 modern’s complexity.
 

It's a bit more suited for fantasy just because they don't have much in the way of weapons/skills for modern. There is an appendix in the rear that covers some new modern magic, how to handle guns, etc.

I'm not saying it's not suited for modern, it's just written for Fantasy.

The one bitch I heard mostly was that there were only 3 archtypes: basically Magic, Skilled & Combat. In most modern games you don't have magic (yeah, some you do) so that leaves 2 categories.

It does cover the bases. Heck, our fantasy game had 5 Experts (skill based) who were totally different and a single Warrior.
 

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