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Appearance
True20 Companion's cover features the now-familiar green and black background with focus on characters, and there are a fair amount of new 1/5 and 1/2 page illustrations, many of them quite good, in the black and white interior. The opening to the second chapter in particular is quite impressive, and in total the artwork is the best yet to appear in a True20 book.
The book has some typographical errors, but nothing major to detract from the value of the book. All in all, however, the book is laid out very nicely and shows the product line's solid production quality with the distinct headings and easily discernable optional rules and sidebars.
Chapter One: Role Creation
This chapter opens by offering a mechanical look at developing new roles by laying out a point-based system used to define the new role. The new role is built by defining its advancement, determined by allocating points to its Combat, Skill, Saving Throw, and Power Progressions. Further tweaking of feat access and the core abilities for the role is also possible. Each of the progressions has multiple varieties with different point values and a clear description of their advancement from level 1 to 20. As an example of what the book provides, it defines four different Saving Throw Progressions of different combinations of good, medium, and normal saving throw bonuses, with some progressions more expensive than others.
An interesting addition is in the power access section, which lays out a way to create roles that have access to less than the universal list of powers. Comparing to the unlimited access adepts in True20 Adventure Roleplaying have, True20 Companion provides other options which limit the role's access to powers, which in turn reduce the cost of the role's Power Progression. With this, it is possible to define a role that only has access to psychic feats, or one that is powerful but focused on only one or two powers, both at less cost than the unlimited adept. The chapter closes with example custom core abilities and roles.
The chapter provides a lot for the do-it-yourself Narrator, and the role creation rules provide much insight into both how the heroic roles work and are balanced, and how to create one's own roles. Additional creation options add even more somewhat unconventional factors in defining a role, such as varying feat progressions, all more than one per level. There is a lot here for the Narrator of any genre to play with, and the chapter goes a long way in giving the Narrator a way to add setting flavor in the form of custom roles with traits that are potentially very different from the norm.
Chapter Two: Fantasy Adventures
Chapter Two starts with the standard introduction to various subgenres and archetypes, notably including a nod to contemporary fantasy (with Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman as strong examples). A loose supernatural rating is introduced in order to somewhat define degrees of magic in any given setting. Short descriptions of protagonist and antagonist archetypes are provided, along with other fantasy traditions, to further set the stage in creating a fantasy setting.
Mythic races and setting-inspecific human cultures are provided as additional backgrounds, as are awakened beasts: intelligent and supernatural animals. While I personally would be reluctant to allow their use for PCs in most settings, they do fit in with some fantasy genres, and are an interesting addition.
A large portion of the chapter is devoted to heroic character archetypes, a mechanic for bestowing "mythic gifts" to heroes as they progress. The archetypes provide a form of narrative path for player characters while still allowing for change; for example, a character may start with the Shadow archetype and be granted certain abilities tied to a present Champion, and then some point later in the narrative opt to change their archetype to represent a shift in the character's experiences and intentions. On the surface, the mechanic is just a method to provide additional abilities to fantasy characters, but in the hands of players sensitive to the narrative, it is a good system to create stylistic characters in the fantasy tradition, and it is perhaps the most refreshing addition in True20 Companion.
Owning to the importance of supernatural powers in fantasy settings, a section on the subject promotes the Narrator to define aspects of their use in the setting. Supernatural philosophies are introduced to allow the Narrator to partition concepts such as psionics and necromancy, giving each philosophy prerequisites, key abilities, allowed and barred powers, and other features. The section continues with a variety of aspects which can be used to itemize a deity's portfolio and specify the abilities they can grant worshipers, for those who want an established and relevant deity presence in their game world.
Rounding out the chapter, fifteen additional feats, a number of additional weapons and armors, and a small section on supernatural items are provided. These additions are solid but not exceptional, and anyone looking for a detailed supernatural item system would likely be served better by Expeditious Retreat's Liber Artefactorum. The chapter closes with short discussion of optional rules, including a table for converting purchase difficulties to silver coinage for those abandoning the Wealth system, and a small mechanic which tracks a character's honor.
Chapter Three: Space Adventures
As with Chapter Two, this chapter starts with discussion of discussion of subgenres and tech ratings before listing a number of sample occupational backgrounds. A small section with background modifications provides a simple way to create wildly varying alien backgrounds. A number of skills, and the addition of one new skill, Navigate, are expanded for use in a space setting, as are the feats, which also see a number of new additions. Some of these feats could be easily applied in any other genre, but a number are fairly specific to space as it's presented in the book.
A system for creating technological equipment is defined using the setting's tech rating and an allotment of points up to the equipment's capacity. Points determine the tech's size, special features, and other item-specific qualities for weapons, armor, and vehicles. Constructing equipment is possible for characters with the appropriate skills and feats. The special features are varied enough to allow for creating items granting various bonuses inside and outside of combat, targeting systems, various energy shields, personal mecha, starships, and various other tech. With the abundance of example material and the construction point system, any other desired feature or tech could easily be designed by the Narrator for use in the game.
Another construction system, this just for Narrators, is that of universe building. Entire star systems and galaxies with a fair amount of detail (star classifications and radiation levels, as examples) can be created. While the randomness in the tables seems to suggest that the system is perhaps provided for on-the-fly creation, there is enough material in this section to allow for space-minded Narrators to create vast and detailed galaxies with little effort.
The chapter also contains some light system information for other aspects of space, such as the effects atmospheric conditions, gravity levels, and short- and long-term radiation have on characters. The chapter ends with a small section on vehicular combat, by use of a manned vehicle template for use by Narrators. Given the nature of the space setting, this section could use to be expanded, but as it is, it does a fair job of covering the basics.
Chapter Four: Horror Adventures
True20 Companion's Chapter Four opens with the obligatory H.P. Lovecraft quote and, again, discussion of subgenres of horror and the importance of mood and pacing in horror narration. Narrators familiar with Call of Cthulhu will recognize the chapter's background section covering various occupations. A section on roles suggests omitting the adept role and instead provides six roles (the expert and warrior, and four new roles built using Chapter One) each with two paths to provide examples of the roles in real usage. The four new roles provided are arcanist, blessed, intellectual, and psychic, and they do a good job of filling the traditional roles in horror gaming.
As in the Chapter Three, the horror chapter introduces one new skill, Research, and a number of new feats, and also expands the usage of the Knowledge (supernatural) and Language skills to tailor them to the genre. Specific equipment and a small section on the application of special materials such as wooden stakes is also provided. A further suggestion regarding the limited use of powers is provided along with a list of three example powers from the True20 Bestiary that are more obvious choices for use by PCs.
The move away from adepts in the genre is contrasted by the chapter's focus on ritual magic, which is a method to allow access (generally, for the antagonists) to various powers in a horror fashion. The base power, ritual participant count, components and foci, and other factors in the ritual are all displayed as elements of the ritual, with a number of sample rituals to get the Narrator started. With no "ritual points" or the like to use in creating a ritual, this section is one of the few sections in True20 Companion that isn't entirely systematic, but given that the rituals are not to be created or designed by PCs, and given the commonly unforgiving nature of horror games, this lack of a cut and dry recipe is acceptable.
No section on horror gaming would be complete without a fear mechanic, and this chapter is no exception. However, aside from a section on the mechanic basis of the sanity save, there is little new here that is not found in the "Agents of Oblivion" section from True20 Worlds of Adventure, no doubt due to the shared author. For those not familiar with it, there is a sanity save with a sanity bonus and modifiers to the save depending on the situation and state of the character, with a mental health track similar to the damage track tracking various levels of fear and terror. A system for determining a creature's fear or terror level is provided, as is an optional rule regarding disorders potentially suffered by characters reaching a certain level on the mental health track. The fear system works well, and could easily be placed in another genre if so desired.
A small mechanic for enduring corruption based on the actions of the characters or their proximity to corrupt places is provided, and while the description of redemption and embracing corruption may not provide many specifics, it does get the Narrator going in the right direction. Sanity and corruption cover the bases in horror gaming, and are both well-defined without tying themselves too much to the genre. The chapter closes on a detailed and very well-written section on approaches to horror, such as the canonical investigative reporters method, and period settings common to horror games.
Chapter Five: Modern Adventures
The modern adventures section opens with a large collection of genre conventions for the Narrator to consider in dealing with the genre's realism, including how aspects such as the black market, organized crime, and contacts fit with the system mechanically. This section is light on system information and focuses more on these considerations in general, and written well to get the Narrator in the proper mindset for the content to follow. A similar treatment of how the three heroic roles fit into the genre follows. Suggestions and large number of examples for creating backgrounds suitable to the genre flesh out the introductory material.
Four new roles, again created using Chapter One, and seven new core abilities get the Narrator started with customization, before the familiar elaboration on some genre-relevant skills and the introduction of Profession (cryptography). Feats and powers also have their role in the modern genre explained further, with only one new power --- Information Sense --- being added to the core material.
A large section is dedicated, rightly, to the creation of new gear by combining a number of provided core components such as glass cutters, fingerprint generators, digital scramblers, and other technological devices. This system is a bit simpler when compared to the space chapter's, but given the (relatively) more mundane nature of the technology in the modern genre, their ease of combination may be easily explained. Unfortunately, the modern chapter's version is focused more on merely determining the cost of an imagined gizmo, while the space chapter deals more with their creation as part of the game.
Following next is a small section of optional rules describing armor degradation and opposed technology checks in dramatic situations when using devices to "attack" other devices (the provided example being hacking a server with use of a wireless modem, each with a different technology rating). Finishing the chapter and True20 Companion on a whole are additional human adversaries and example organizations and adventure seeds.
Final Analysis
True20 Companion, as a book focused entirely on game customization, is geared only towards Narrators, but any who are looking to tweak their game will find something interesting in the book. It provides lots of new elements to play with, and does so without altering the basics of True20. Because it spans four genres, not everyone will find the entirety of the book useful for themselves, but there's enough to play with in each genre, and many of the additions are fairly genre-inspecific and can be pulled out of one and used in another.
The only real complaint for the book is that compared to the others, the modern chapter comes off a bit light, perhaps due to the constraints of reality, compared to the other fictional genres. But all in all, it's a great product, and Narrators looking to tweak the system for their whims, or just wanting more general advice for their genre of choice, would be wise to pick up True20 Companion.
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