Like it said in the subject. The IDW comics they chose to base the Transformers RPG on was the most political and "woke" period in the history of those comics.

I went through that period of IDW's comics and almost quit them repeatedly. Transformers has always been political. But dragging real-world earth politics into the picture ruined things.

The problem with basing the RPG on that period of comics is that they pretty much torpedo all other interpretations of characters except the party line focused on in those comics. That being, the Autobots being a spoiled upper class that is desperate to hold onto power.

That's not something I want to play. So for me, the Transformers RPG was a waste of money.

My memory from the 80s stuff had the old Cybertronian history being pretty vague, but I seem to recollect that the Autobots as a faction didn't exist pre-war.  It was Megatron who first formed the Decepticons when he tried to take over and kicked the crap out of the basically unarmed and unprepared population, and the Autobots were formed as a response as those people organized to resist the Decepticons.  The Decepticons were not a marginalized underclass, they were just jerks and suckers who fell for Megatron's promises.

Later after the movie added Unicron, I think the comics made a little noise about the Decepticons arising through some manifestation of the Unicron vs Primus dichotomy, but even then it wasn't because the Autobots were sitting around sipping energon champagne, it was the malevolent influence of essentially a Lovecraftian entity corrupting them.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 13, 2024, 01:35:44 PMLike it said in the subject. The IDW comics they chose to base the Transformers RPG on was the most political and "woke" period in the history of those comics.

I went through that period of IDW's comics and almost quit them repeatedly. Transformers has always been political. But dragging real-world earth politics into the picture ruined things.

The problem with basing the RPG on that period of comics is that they pretty much torpedo all other interpretations of characters except the party line focused on in those comics. That being, the Autobots being a spoiled upper class that is desperate to hold onto power.

That's not something I want to play. So for me, the Transformers RPG was a waste of money.

I pretty much don't read the comics. I'm aware of them, and did read them in the 80's with the stuff by Bob Budiansky and then Simon Furman. But I quit after the original series wrapped up.

I like the idea that the Autobots aren't pristine good guys, and the Decepticons have a legitimate beef with them. Even for a kid's entertainment based on a toy line, kids aren't stupid and stories that entertain need to be deep enough to actually have a story.

Also Unicron needs to fucking go. The doink is an uninteresting macguffin villian who has somehow dominated the franchise since the Movie introduced him. I totally check out mentally when a story involves Unicron.

I disliked the Transformers RPG simply because it's a bad system. Unnecessarily complicated dice mechanics. Parts of the game that don't make any sense. (Forms have confusing names and are vague mechanically) And parts of the system that are completely missing. (The Requisition system is intregal to getting gear for your character. How you do this is not described in the book or starer adventure.)

The woke garbage is just icing on the shit cake.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 13, 2024, 03:51:11 PMI pretty much don't read the comics. I'm aware of them, and did read them in the 80's with the stuff by Bob Budiansky and then Simon Furman. But I quit after the original series wrapped up.

I like the idea that the Autobots aren't pristine good guys, and the Decepticons have a legitimate beef with them. Even for a kid's entertainment based on a toy line, kids aren't stupid and stories that entertain need to be deep enough to actually have a story.

Also Unicron needs to fucking go. The doink is an uninteresting macguffin villian who has somehow dominated the franchise since the Movie introduced him. I totally check out mentally when a story involves Unicron.

I disliked the Transformers RPG simply because it's a bad system. Unnecessarily complicated dice mechanics. Parts of the game that don't make any sense. (Forms have confusing names and are vague mechanically) And parts of the system that are completely missing. (The Requisition system is intregal to getting gear for your character. How you do this is not described in the book or starer adventure.)

The woke garbage is just icing on the shit cake.

The requisition system doesn't fit the game at all. It's something left over from G.I. Joe that doesn't work with either Power Rangers or Transformers. It's a mess.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 13, 2024, 03:51:11 PMAlso Unicron needs to fucking go. The doink is an uninteresting macguffin villian who has somehow dominated the franchise since the Movie introduced him. I totally check out mentally when a story involves Unicron.

  That problem starts with Furman, for all that I enjoyed the G1 comics, but I think it was the early 2000s when it metastasized. But I haven't kept up with the franchise much at all since then, so I could be wrong.

So yeah. The good thing about Transformers (also a bad thing) is that there are so many different "canons" out there, you can pick and choose. I personally prefer a huge helping of the G1 Cartoon continuity, with a few tweaks to close up some of the setting plotholes, and a bit of cherry picking of good ideas from the other continuities.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 13, 2024, 01:35:44 PMThat's not something I want to play. So for me, the Transformers RPG was a waste of money.

I have been unimpressed with about everything IDW produces. This is just par for the course of agenda laden junk they put out.

I have been very much mad at Renegade Game Studios since I bought a copy of Altered Carbon RPG.  You can check out my review if you want a deep dive but the short answer is they dumped a shitty system that clearly wasn't play tested on the market and charged a bundle for it.

Never again.  I will never buy another product from them and I will never recommend anything they produce.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 13, 2024, 01:35:44 PMLike it said in the subject. The IDW comics they chose to base the Transformers RPG on was the most political and "woke" period in the history of those comics.

I went through that period of IDW's comics and almost quit them repeatedly. Transformers has always been political. But dragging real-world earth politics into the picture ruined things.

The problem with basing the RPG on that period of comics is that they pretty much torpedo all other interpretations of characters except the party line focused on in those comics. That being, the Autobots being a spoiled upper class that is desperate to hold onto power.

That's not something I want to play. So for me, the Transformers RPG was a waste of money.

Well, you certainly showed them (IDW) by repeatedly continuing to buy them despite how bad they were.  Companies will never learn a lesson unless their customers do first.  Knowing it was so bad so recently and that the RPG license was likely acquired a while back when they were still in control/the current thing, did you do some research on the RPG to see if it was more of the same before buying it?   It may sound like harsh words from a stranger online but I'm a fellow (former) fan of many properties that have been utterly ruined over the past decade by woke nonsense that will never be taken back and had to learn the same lesson myself.  Trust but verify doesn't work with the woke; it's more like verify and assume until proven otherwise.

Quote from: RNGm on May 14, 2024, 11:00:18 AMWell, you certainly showed them (IDW) by repeatedly continuing to buy them despite how bad they were.  Companies will never learn a lesson unless their customers do first.  Knowing it was so bad so recently and that the RPG license was likely acquired a while back when they were still in control/the current thing, did you do some research on the RPG to see if it was more of the same before buying it?   It may sound like harsh words from a stranger online but I'm a fellow (former) fan of many properties that have been utterly ruined over the past decade by woke nonsense that will never be taken back and had to learn the same lesson myself.  Trust but verify doesn't work with the woke; it's more like verify and assume until proven otherwise.

It was impossible to know the contents before buying. They had no previews of the books. Renegade usually doesn't do previews. So you don't know until you have the books in hand.

I realized what they were like after the PDF was made downloadable. But that's not preview material. That came with the purchase of the hardback book. Again, you have no idea until way after you pay. After you are stuck.

Renegade claims that their version of the Transformers RPG is its own interpretation of the property. But it isn't. It's mostly based on the IDW Comics. The whole structure of character generation is based on those IDW books.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 13, 2024, 09:11:44 PMSo yeah. The good thing about Transformers (also a bad thing) is that there are so many different "canons" out there, you can pick and choose. I personally prefer a huge helping of the G1 Cartoon continuity, with a few tweaks to close up some of the setting plotholes, and a bit of cherry picking of good ideas from the other continuities.

How is that a bad thing? Numerous concepts now considered integral to the IP were introduced in reboots, like sparks, Primus, the primes, megatron's tragic backstory, etc.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on May 14, 2024, 06:34:05 PM

Quote from: RNGm on May 14, 2024, 11:00:18 AMWell, you certainly showed them (IDW) by repeatedly continuing to buy them despite how bad they were.  Companies will never learn a lesson unless their customers do first.  Knowing it was so bad so recently and that the RPG license was likely acquired a while back when they were still in control/the current thing, did you do some research on the RPG to see if it was more of the same before buying it?   It may sound like harsh words from a stranger online but I'm a fellow (former) fan of many properties that have been utterly ruined over the past decade by woke nonsense that will never be taken back and had to learn the same lesson myself.  Trust but verify doesn't work with the woke; it's more like verify and assume until proven otherwise.

It was impossible to know the contents before buying. They had no previews of the books. Renegade usually doesn't do previews. So you don't know until you have the books in hand.

Yeah. I bought the RPG because I wanted to give it a fair shot. Read the whole thing, understand it and maybe playtest. I also bought the GM screen with the pack in adventure. Oh, and the Autobot dice set. I still plan to get the Decepticon dice. Dice are hard (not impossible) to fuck up.
I haven't bought a thing since. They came out with a Decepticon sourcebook and an adventure that I know of. Not interested.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 14, 2024, 09:27:43 PMYeah. I bought the RPG because I wanted to give it a fair shot. Read the whole thing, understand it and maybe playtest. I also bought the GM screen with the pack in adventure. Oh, and the Autobot dice set. I still plan to get the Decepticon dice. Dice are hard (not impossible) to fuck up.
I haven't bought a thing since. They came out with a Decepticon sourcebook and an adventure that I know of. Not interested.

Well they screwed up the dice. Check the D4 out, then contact customer service for a replacement of it. I eventually got mine. They messed up on all of the custom dice in the first run. All 6 Power Rangers dice sets, the G.I. Joe dice, and the Autobot Dice Set. I got hit on all of them.

https://renegadegamestudios.com/replacement-d4

The Decepticon Dice Set was not messed up with the misprinted D4.

I own The Deception Directive. All the archetypes they have for characters are some kind of societal misanthrope. Again, very one note.

The best book in the line is The Enigma Of Combination. Where they not only detail all iterations of the combiner process, but the Headmaster/Targetmaster/Powermaster process. That one book is a bright spot in a line that was pretty disappointing out of the gate.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on May 14, 2024, 08:22:57 PMHow is that a bad thing? Numerous concepts now considered integral to the IP were introduced in reboots, like sparks, Primus, the primes, megatron's tragic backstory, etc.

   How is it a bad thing? Well, what color is Rumble?

Quote from: Armchair Gamer on May 15, 2024, 10:50:44 AM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on May 14, 2024, 08:22:57 PMHow is that a bad thing? Numerous concepts now considered integral to the IP were introduced in reboots, like sparks, Primus, the primes, megatron's tragic backstory, etc.

   How is it a bad thing? Well, what color is Rumble?

And what is his alternate mode?