True20 Love or lack thereof (related to "How Alive" thread)

[BPEXPLORER]

(Also at greenronin.com boards.)

New to the boards...and confused.

I've been a big fan of GR's d20/OGL stuff for a while, they're one of the cornerstones of my fantasy RPGing.

I've been getting the itch to run sci-fi campaigns again and picked up True20 Revised to see if it would be a good candidate for sci-fi gaming with my kids or my regular gaming group.

I like what I see. It appears to be very customizable.

However, I have ZERO desire to invest in Yet-Another-RPG-That's-Dying-on-the-Vine (trademark pending). I've read CP's latest interview on GR's 2010 plans. I've read the Dragon Age designer diaries. I recognize that the product focus is going to go where the greatest demand/opportunity lies.

That said, I'm kind of shocked True20 wasn't picked for the Dragon Age engine. It seems to satisfy the easy-to-learn requirement, could have been packed into the box set breakdown, and allowed for d20/OGL cross-utilization. I found the "True20 powers wouldn't model DA:O magic well" claim surprising to say the least. ASoI&F getting a brand new rules set I can understand as GoO had produced an OGL version.

So what's the story? Is True20 a GR cornerstone or not? Am I better served looking at a newer or more established sci-fi RPG?

I'm interested in the True20 supplement books but these days I've got to try and spend my gaming dollars towards stuff I'll actively use. I really don't like spending most of my time developing rules which is why I like actively supported RPGs. (I'll handle the NPCs, campaigns, & adventures.) Another reason for desiring active support, is so I can have a better chance at finding people willing to play should my current group fall apart.

Sorry to be blunt and I don't wish to seem combative. I've just been down the road of dead/stalled RPGs too often. True20 appears to be a great game. I just wish to ensure it's one with some staying power.

[Steve Kenson]

(Note the follow is my opinion as a fellow gamer and in no way an "official" response from Green Ronin just because I happen to work for them.)

To respond to your question with a question, what do you see as "active" support? You seem to measure "active" in terms of new stuff, but on the other, you point out that you (like many gamers) can only afford to invest in new stuff you'll actively use, so I assume you don't want a glut of product that you can't afford to buy or use anyway.

A quick glance at DriveThruRPG.com shows 77 True20 products for sale there, including sci-fi campaigns, adventures, etc. Green Ronin's catalog includes the role Handbooks (all with SF content), Narrator's Screen (with an SF-usable adventure), and a Cybernetics supplement.

So, given that you want to handle the NPCs, adventures, and campaign stuff yourself, and given that the available True20 products already handle character and role design, technology, weapons, armor, vehicles, creatures, powers (including psionics, technology, and transhumanism), mass combat, advanced combat, and advanced skill use, what other "active support" do you wish/expect to see?

[ValhallaGH]

What Steve said.

There's a lot of material out there, enough to run just about any campaign if the Narrator runs things the way you've described yourself running things.
It's "actively supported" in that Green Ronin is still publishing the books (no small thing).

Beyond that, I don't know what to say.

Good luck.

[razorwise]

Hiya!

We have three setting books that should finally see the light of day this year: Agents of Oblivion, Ravaged Earth, and RunePunk. They are all in final edits and the early stages of art direction.

Like Steve said, there is a lot of stuff out there already. What are you looking for?

Regards,

Sean

[Kendermage]

I think for me, I would just appreciate it if Green Ronin would update the True20 page and let us know what is going on with True20. The last update was August 2009. Are there new products coming out for True20? Has True20 been put on the back burner to focus on the licensed properties (Dragon Age and Song of Fire and Ice)? Have they given up on True20 in favor of bigger sellers like Mutants and Masterminds? I've sent several messages via the "Contact Us" page on the Green Ronin site, but haven't gotten an answer to any of them. Just some news of any kind would be great.

BTW Razorwise thanks for the update. I'm sure I speak for a bunch of fans when I say that we appreciate it. It is reassuring to know that at least one of the Third Party Providers is still cranking out material.

[face_p0lluti0n]

As much as I would like to see more generic True20 books, in my experience the system has already succeeded so well at what it was trying to do that it doesn't need any more. I have the Revised Edition, all three role books, the Cybernetics PDF, and the Bestiary, and I feel like, with a minimum of tweaking, I could run any genre or setting that doesn't require incredibly specialized rules - and there are setting books out there with the rules to cover those. I'm interested in using the True20 system for as many settings and genres as possible, and the only books I felt were necessary to cover all genres were Interface Zero from Reality Deviants to introduce VR/Cyberpunk rules to the system, and Mecha vs. Kaiju for detailed mecha rules. I'm actually confident I could run anything in True20 except straight-up supers, and M&M does an admirable job of doing that in a single beautiful corebook.

That said, I'm willing to support anything for True20 that I'm even vaguely interested in, because I think the system hits, on the spot, my comfortable level of crunch vs. simplicity, moreso than any other system I've played, and does so in such an elegant fashion that I can't even imagine having a rules headache from the game because it's so straightforward. Like crunchier games, there is a rule for everything, but that rule only takes a line or so of text, so I can actually look up a rule I've never used before, during play, and be comfy applying that rule to my game instantly.

In a perfect world, I'd kinda like to see a generic True20 gearbook with non-combat gear lists (vehicles, utility stuff, etc.) for every tech level, but lacking that, I'm going to keep supporting True20's 3rd party publishers and cannibalize all of my favorite rules and settings from those products for my group's weekly games.

Long live True20!

[Katowice]

I for one would like to see more support for Green Ronin's official settings, like Freeport and Blue Rose.