There is no sample setting. The game is certainly (and in theory, almost infinitely) tweakable, and basically universal, but the elements presented--particularly the equipment and “innate power” lists I’ll get to shortly--do seem to slant slightly towards modern day action or near-future-equivalent tech levels, with superpowery elements. That said, there’s absolutely no reason one couldn’t use F20 to run most other types of settings. As in the vehicle-rule issue discussed later in this review, powers could be used to duplicate higher-tech far-future superscience, though that’s not explicitly provided for.
The system makes no bones about not being for beginners: a footnote on the first page acknowledges this up front, specifically warning the reader that F20 therefore includes no Introduction-to-Roleplaying text. Fair enough. Instead, we immediately dive into character generation--which, in another example of rulebook honesty, the text warns can be a little tedious. (Actually, it’s pretty straightforward.)
As in other point-buy systems, the relative abilities of player characters depend upon the GM-determined Level of the characters to be run, allowing for anything from a campaign about minor low-lives to one about superheroes (or their setting-dependent equivalents). The suggested default level of 5 (out of a range that runs from –4 to [positive] 30) leads to PCs being competent and active mid-level types: cops and veterans are among the examples suggested. Level decides how many Characteristic Points each character has available to spend on twelve attributes, divided into four groups covering the general categories of Body, Grace, Mind, and Spirit. Normal competent middle-ground hero stats average around 4-5. Further derived statistics are mathematically worked out from those. Level also determines a PC’s allowance of further Option Points (which allow the purchase of levels in various listed learned skills, innate talents, or perks of various sorts) that number capable of being boosted by taking any of a number of listed disadvantages. (Ten Characteristic Points equal one Option Point, and CP and OP may be traded for each other.)
Skills are listed, as attributes are, in grouped bunches, and one buys levels in them. Talents are costlier, but can be bought multiple times to increase their effectiveness. Perks fall into one of several categories--being in a position of authority, having contacts, and so on--but are defined in their specifics by the player and, if allowed by the GM, assigned OP costs based on how much of an impact GM thinks the perk in question will have on the campaign. (An Authority perk representing leadership of a family circle, say, will probably cost much less than one representing the Presidency of the United States.)
Task resolution is fairly simple, if familiar, and depends upon making rolls and adding the relevant stats to the total. Skill checks are Stat + Skill + 1d20. Attribute checks are Stat + 1d20. Both are rolled against--yep--listed Difficulty Classes; a task of average difficulty has a DC of about 12, but DCs can go way up from there. Combat damage and other such effects are in listed numbers of d6 rolls; but for effects involving high numbers of such d6 rolls, the rules recommend assuming that each full 3d6 simply equals a result of 10. And when a character has the time and lack of distraction, he or she can take 10 or take 20 to make success more likely, pretty much exactly as in That Other System.
Combat involves six-second rounds and d20-based initiative check rolls; actions are full-round, half, or free. Attacks are resolved by adding stats to a 1d20 roll and involve familiar-sounding threat ranges and crits. Damage resolution is a little less familiar, and involves three different increasingly dangerous types to receive--if a character is hit, the player (or GM) rolls d6s for damage, subtracts various possible defense values (usually from target’s derived characteristics), and applies the remainder to the target’s “Stun,” “Hits,” and/or “Mortal” values (and there is spillover between them). A short list of sample weapons with listed damage ranges is provided (and, no doubt for convenience, includes punches & kicks).
All game-world currencies are abstracted in the rules to Gear Points or GP (heh), and the sample weapons and items of equipment listed in the game are all provided with GP costs. The GM decides the amount of GP available when the player characters are first created, but it represents their available spending money, not the sum total of their everyday expenses and bills, which are simply assumed to be handled off-screen.
A list of innate powers is provided; as in HERO, only their effects are provided, leaving it up to the GM’s own campaign setting to determine what creates them and whether they arise from magic, mutation, psionics, or whatever else (assuming powers are used at all). The list is somewhat heavily integrated: a number of power descriptions contain specific references to other powers that they counter or otherwise effect. All powers, along with modifications to individualize them, are bought with OP.
One thing the game seems not to touch upon is the question of transportation; there are no vehicle rules as such. A GM can probably work out a vehicle’s capabilities by adapting from the powers list, and determine appropriate speeds by simple fiat, in which case there’s no reason the system can’t handle the results; F20 doesn’t specifically suggest this, however.
There are minor stylistic blips, such as typos here and there, and a reference to an equipment size list that isn’t actually there, none of which really interfere with play. (Equipment weight is still there.) Pages aren’t numbered, despite their numbers being listed on the game’s table of contents; since F20 is so short, it’s slightly annoying but not such a big deal to write them in by hand. There is no art whatsoever; neither this nor the utilitarian no-frills-Word-document layout bothers me in the slightest, but I imagine this could be a stopping point if you’re someone who Must Have Art. The overall organization of the rules is extremely clear, however--at last, a game with lots of crunch and yet no desperate flipping for obscure rulings!--and none of these points get in the way of actual gameplay.
And I think that’s the point. While there are minor issues as mentioned (which could become major if, say, you want to run a Road Warrior campaign)--and while there are parts of the system that, however overtly acknowledged, probably wouldn’t be there if The Sources hadn’t done them first--F20 presents a good, solid, chunky, easily learnable framework for a GM to work with in running his or her own campaign setting.
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