True 20 - Who here has played it, and what was your experience?

[Thomas5251212]

(I know you asked iwatt this, but I'll throw my two cents in.

Hey, I'm not fussy about who answers.

I'm like that.) In general, how frequently or easily you give out conviction is part of how "cinematic" your game is, and to a large extent is part of the setting (for example, Nevermore, which is a fairytale/dreamlands setting specifies double conviction). My off-the-cuff idea of two points a day instead of a virtue and vice is for a "typical" game (whatever that means!), and would be likely adjusted for a higher or lower conviction game. (Some people slow down the automatic recovery of conviction for grittier settings.)

Okay. That's one of the things I hadn't extracted from my quick read of the rules; if its spelled out I apparently managed to skip over it. Thanks.

 

[Thomas5251212]

[Not ignoring the rest of your post, Jim; just didn't see anything that needed a response].


Again, the social issue...and there's no rules out there that solve it. A crap GM is a crap GM if they don't learn from their mistakes. I do think trying to create a mechanical solution for this is a mistake, simply because it is a social issue, and thus falls into social contract territory.

Sure, but if you don't have a mechanical process dependent on it in the first place its largely a non-issue.

 

[Urizen]

In case anyone might be curious, one of the guys on the True20 boards posted this comparison of true20 and D20 based on an adventure he played using both systems.

http://true20.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1680&start=15

 

[iwatt]

(I know you asked iwatt this, but I'll throw my two cents in. I'm like that.) In general, how frequently or easily you give out conviction is part of how "cinematic" your game is, and to a large extent is part of the setting (for example, Nevermore, which is a fairytale/dreamlands setting specifies double conviction). My off-the-cuff idea of two points a day instead of a virtue and vice is for a "typical" game (whatever that means!), and would be likely adjusted for a higher or lower conviction game. (Some people slow down the automatic recovery of conviction for grittier settings.)

Yeah, the degree of conviction gain is dependant on the style of game you play. High Fantasy, savethe world campaigns were the characters are very important to the plot, I'd give out Conviction like candy. The same for a swashbuckling campaign in the seven seas. In the first case because character continuity is important to me in those campaigns, and in the seconf because Conviction allows for very cinematic games.

In survival horror (i.e. YOZ), I've handed out conviction very slowly, and removed conviction gain per day. That makes for a very gritty game, but went pretty much with the genre.

IME, 2/day might be a little on the short side for those palyers who like throwing Conviction around like candy. Maybe make it 1 + 1/5 levels per day? (rounded up) so from 2-5 at the max range.

 

[Thomas5251212]

IME, 2/day might be a little on the short side for those palyers who like throwing Conviction around like candy. Maybe make it 1 + 1/5 levels per day? (rounded up) so from 2-5 at the max range.

Do you actually think higher level characters need Conviction more than low level ones? I'd expect the opposite, if anything.

 

[Pbartender]

Do you actually think higher level characters need Conviction more than low level ones? I'd expect the opposite, if anything.

The rulebook seems to think so... A character's maximum number of Conviction points starts at 3 and increase by 1 at every odd level, reaching 12 at 20th level.

 

[Hjorimir]

Conviction is one of the things that makes high-level characters powerful. I don't see Conviction as purely a 'save my bacon' mechanic. There is plenty of offensive power in Conviction points as well and it's one of the things that makes the high-level characters stand out as being powerful.

 

[Thomas5251212]

The rulebook seems to think so... A character's maximum number of Conviction points starts at 3 and increase by 1 at every odd level, reaching 12 at 20th level.

Steve seemed to think the same thing in M&M1; I've just never been convinced. It always seemed like higher powered characters already had more options, and as such this would be less necessary.

 

[Thomas5251212]

Conviction is one of the things that makes high-level characters powerful. I don't see Conviction as purely a 'save my bacon' mechanic. There is plenty of offensive power in Conviction points as well and it's one of the things that makes the high-level characters stand out as being powerful.

I realize that (though I'm personally cynical as to the ratio that get will get used for non-defensive use, but then, I play with pretty paranoid players), but see my comment above for my thoughts.

 

[iwatt]

Well, IME the higher level the character, the more likely he is to use conviction for something other that toughness rerolls. Conviction to remove fatigue save modifiers (The Talent) are essential to make the master spellcaster effective for more than 3-4 rounds. My players get a lot of mileage out of Expertise, since a +4 edge in opposed skills gives quite the boon (and my players love to stunt or feint). And Determination also get's used more often the higher level the warrior. That's only with respect to core abilities.

Higher level character IMC tend to use Heroic feat and Heroic Surges a lot more often. They also tend to use Extra Effort, and then conviction to reduce fatigue.