True 20 vs. Blue Rose

[JVisgaitis]

I want to pick up one of these, but I'm not sure which. Can someone explain the differences between the two?

 

[Crothian]

The rules are really close, the difference is the setting. True 20 is generic, Blue Rose is Romantic Fantasy.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

True20 is the way to go unless you really do want to play romantic fantasy a la Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar novels and Diane Duane's Young Wizards and Middle Kingdoms novels. In that case, you want Blue Rose.

By contrast, True20 has no default genre or setting - the one-page description of each role goes from the Adept, illustrated by a fairly classic sorceress in robes surrounded by occult paraphenalia, to the Expert, illustrated by a woman surrounded with biotechnology who's possibly floating in freefall, to the Warrior, illustrated by a armoured tough guy with a sword and a smoking flintlock pistol. It concludes with the following:

Adepts

Examples of archetypal adepts include Merlin the Magician, the sorceresses Medea and Morgan LeFay, prophetic priests and miracleworkers, science-fiction psychics, and other wielders of supernatural power.

Experts

Examples of archetypal experts include the inventor Daedalus, the Greek heroes Jason and Theseus, the cunning Robin Hood, Japanese ninja, fantasy thieves, and similar characters.

Warriors

Examples of archetypal warriors include Hercules, King Arthur and his knights, the Three Musketeers, Japanese samurai, and virtually all soldiers and professional fighters.

True20, in fact, contains four shortform campaign settings:

• Caliphate Nights, an Arabian-themed fantasy setting
• Lux Aeternum, a space opera setting
• Mecha vs. Kaiju, giant robots versus Godzilla and pals
• Borrowed Time, a modern-day setting with time manipulation powers

There's also the supplement True20 Worlds of Adventure, which presents five more settings. Green Ronin's working hard to sell the idea that you can use their game to play a d20-based campaign in any setting.

 

[Herobizkit]

Blue Rose came first; True20 was developed from the system presented in Blue Rose.

Blue Rose is intended specifically for fantasy role-playing; True 20 is intended to be more generic and can be applied to any setting.

Blue Rose is a magic-rich setting; True20 can be, but isn't as-is.

Blue Rose's game world is pretty, um, "girly", in that the powers of Good are pretty much in control, gays/lesbians are socially accepted, and feature a race of intelligent animals. Personally, I use the system over the setting.

 

[Gundark]

This'll get moved

 

[mhacdebhandia]

gays/lesbians are socially acceptable

Heh. I would have framed this as "socially accepted". The way you phrased it seems to imply that such is not the case in our world.

In any case, it's true: like both Valdemar and the Middle Kingdoms novels, the setting of Blue Rose presumes full social and legal equality for all sexualities.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This'll get moved

OK.

 

[Yair]

I don't own True20. From my own's little research into the matter, however...

I think the main difference is that touhness in Blue Rose increases in level, making high-level characters much more resistant to damage than low-level ones. While not quite D&D, this does make for more "heroic" characters, that can shrug off a host of lesser hits.

True20 characters maintain a constant Toughness, remaining as vulnerable to the sword's thrust as they were at 1st level. (Mind you the sword's wielder will find them harder to hit.) They will find hordes of lesser foes fairly frightening, as they can only avoid so many solid hits.

The other main difference is that Blue Rose lavishly details and one setting whereas True20 is more of a toolkit, and requires you to fill in the blanks (in choosing the setting, and often in mechanics too). I personally didn't mind BR's setting at all, it's more or less a classic fantasy setting with the PCs being in the goodly kingdom beset by an evil necromancer on one hand and a totalitarian theocracy on the other, while truely evil demon plot throughout. I found the non-standard elements to be innocous (such as the fairly liberal ideals) to interesting (such as animal PCs).

Personally, I think I prefer BR to True20 as I like fairly standard fantasy games. I gather True20 is less fully geared to provide this experience. The downside to using BR is that True20 contains a few minor mechanical improvements that you'd probably miss.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I think the main difference is that touhness in Blue Rose increases in level, making high-level characters much more resistant to damage than low-level ones. While not quite D&D, this does make for more "heroic" characters, that can shrug off a host of lesser hits.

Except that weapons in Blue Rose are more deadly, on the whole, due to criticals multiplying their damage, rather than adding to it, as in True20's case (something I'm not altogether keen on in the latter system, to be honest.)

True20 contains a few minor mechanical improvements that you'd probably miss.

?

 

[DeBracy]

When Blue Rose came out I was pretty interested but never got around to buy it. When I saw the True20 hardcover was available I actually did some shopping though. And then I bought all three Blue Rose books.

As people have said; get True20 if you want a system that's easy to deal with and open for adaption to most genres. Get Blue Rose if you like what how the setting looks. For me, World of Aldea has been one of the most inspiring books I've looked in for years.