The Imperial Age: True20 Edition is a RPG Setting Sourcebook from Adamant Entertainment. I have had a few PDFs in my archives that were given to me to review but due to unforeseen life complications, I was not able to. I felt I owed those products a review, and since I have started Gamer’s Codex, I have gone back in my archives and found a number of those products. The Imperial Age: True20 Edition is one of them.

Up front, I have to confess that I am a big True20 fan. I love the basic d20 mechanic but never liked the clunkyness of the system. True20 solved all those problems for me in one simple and concise generic system. I do not want to turn this into a True20 review but in general, this book already has that in its favor.

See the rest of my review here at www.thegamerscodex.com/index.php/the-imperial-age-true20-edition/ on The Gamer's Codex.

True 20 is becoming the perfect solution for all sorts of Modern d20 based games for me and Imperial Age shows why. The rules are adapted from the Imperial Age supplements for d20, so a lot here has been seen before, but all of it looks new through the lens of True 20. All the Imperial Age products ooze style and this one is no different. There may be better Victorian Age games out there, but one can't deny that this is a great product and a welcome addition to any Victorian gaming library.

I can't much to the superlatives mentioned in the earlier review - this book shows how a system like True20 can be used to its fullest potential. The author takes pains to mention how period films and literature can be integrated into campaigns. A good deal of attention is paid to using adepts and powers when they are necessary (for example, the Scientific Detective has access to things that mimic Holmes' powers of deduction).

There is material to run all sorts of stories, from straight historical pieces to tales of supernatural horror and steampunk odysseys. This includes information about the times as well as character ideas and the mechanics to build them. The only thing that I felt failed to keep in the spirit of True20 was the list of firearms; a good number of them are near-identical statistically, and a generic list is more in keeping with the core game.

A great setting just got better-- a must for True20 fans, this book contains loads of new backgrounds, role tweaks etc. This is a "smart" use of the True20 mechanics. Imperial Age doesn't present 20 useless "new roles," but gives suggestions thematically for enhancing the existing ones. If you have the previous d20 version of Imperial Age, you'll notice that the formatting and editing is much improved. Lots of material for the GM. But material from Faerie, Victorian Monstrosities and India, the strongest pieces from the d20 edition, are virtually absent here. The price is worth mentioning too, a relative bargain at $9.95. Everything from Sherlock Holmes to Full Metal Alchemist and Girl Genius, you can approximate it with this book. RDP's Shadows of Cthulhu could easily be paired with Imperial Age. ...awaiting the next installment.