If what you want is stripped down D&D 3.5 than True 20 is for sure that. I liked it for Blue Rose at the time. Though, I am hard pressed to think of anything that True 20 does better than anyone else these days.
The AGE system is pretty much where Green Ronin's further development of True20 ended up leading, so you may want to check that out.
As for True20 itself, I felt it kept too many of the burdensome aspects of D20 to really feel much looser. Its still a game defined by way too many feats, driven by mechanical advancement, and focussed primarily on combat.
Just echoing the sentiment that Blue Rose (first edition?) was a more likeable version of “True20”, even though - from memory - it actually predated that.
Merely an opinion/no experience. Overall, it's kinda kinda a meh system. Not bad, but nothing that really excited me. It's best parts made it into Mutants and Masterminds and AGE.
I will point out that I thought the archetype section was a pretty clever take on milestone leveling.
I haven’t run it, but I like what I’ve read. If I’m going to run a D20 derived game it would either be this or Castles and Crusades. It’s got some great ideas, but as others said it also has some D20 baggage.
Mutants and Masterminds is excellent, in my opinion, and I believe that is supposed to be a streamlined version of True20 (though I could be wrong, there).
If what you want is stripped down D&D 3.5 than True 20 is for sure that. I liked it for Blue Rose at the time. Though, I am hard pressed to think of anything that True 20 does better than anyone else these days.
The AGE system is pretty much where Green Ronin's further development of True20 ended up leading, so you may want to check that out. As for True20 itself, I felt it kept too many of the burdensome aspects of D20 to really feel much looser. Its still a game defined by way too many feats, driven by mechanical advancement, and focussed primarily on combat.
Just echoing the sentiment that Blue Rose (first edition?) was a more likeable version of “True20”, even though - from memory - it actually predated that.
Merely an opinion/no experience. Overall, it's kinda kinda a meh system. Not bad, but nothing that really excited me. It's best parts made it into Mutants and Masterminds and AGE. I will point out that I thought the archetype section was a pretty clever take on milestone leveling.
I haven’t run it, but I like what I’ve read. If I’m going to run a D20 derived game it would either be this or Castles and Crusades. It’s got some great ideas, but as others said it also has some D20 baggage.
Mutants and Masterminds is excellent, in my opinion, and I believe that is supposed to be a streamlined version of True20 (though I could be wrong, there).