I was googling for Tranformers themed dice and came across Renegade studios who are making an official RPG for Transformers, and a bunch of other Hasbro IPs, including GI Joe.
https://renegadegamestudios.com/transformers-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook-pre-order/
There's not a ton of info. It seems to be a d20 mechanic based system, with some type of action dice to go along with it.
https://geektyrant.com/news/renegade-game-studios-announces-new-essence20-rpg-system
Not due to be released until march 2022, I'm mildly interested. I've had some kind of homebrew RPG system for Transformers since the 80's, and have tinkered with it over the... decades? :o
At the least, we can get some themed dice out of this.
That looks interesting. I like the art style for the cover at least.
No combat wheelchairs in disguise.
If You like savage worlds, Freedom Squadron is pretty much GI Joe.
These guys are also supposed to be doing a Transformers Card game as well, due for release in August so good luck for that.
Here's the Essence20 announcement minus the system-crippling pile of ads: https://renegadegamestudios.com/blog/announcing-the-essence20-roleplaying-system/
Kinda sounds like Savage Worlds. If these three RPGs had just been really polished setting books for SW, I may have been interested.
A GI Joe RPG would be amazing, if only because the hit modifiers would -19, tanks and helicopters get 1 hit point, and every adventure would require somebody to play as Shipwreck, for no discernible reason.
And all combat should benefit from wisdom modifiers, because knowing is half the battle.
Licensed RPGs have become an official fad now. You can smell that corporate synergy. This is the first sign that the RPG bubble is about to pop.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on September 01, 2021, 12:51:47 PM
Licensed RPGs have become an official fad now. You can smell that corporate synergy. This is the first sign that the RPG bubble is about to pop.
Licensed RPGs have been around for quite a while. I don't know if I'd call it a fad.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TUm8LPSawiE/UGwvTkixtqI/AAAAAAAAGZs/lGfs1oCZV_o/s320/sf2001.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Conan-Role-Playing-Game-TSR-1985.jpg/200px-Conan-Role-Playing-Game-TSR-1985.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Star_Wars_Role-Playing_Game_1987.jpg)
(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/in_bmZGJ312PLlGfd--ivA__opengraph/img/xBehr7bYhipgvfiaw5BV_WOgUBU=/fit-in/1200x630/filters:strip_icc()/pic535150.jpg)
A 2001: A Space Odyssey RPG adaptation? Uh...
Kinda having a tough time figuring that one out.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on September 01, 2021, 12:51:47 PM
Licensed RPGs have become an official fad now. You can smell that corporate synergy. This is the first sign that the RPG bubble is about to pop.
West End Games' Star Wars RPG might be the second most important RPG ever made, just behind D&D (which is Tolkien with the serial numbers shaved off).
Actually, at this point, one could consider D&D to be an officially licensed D&D product.
Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 01, 2021, 01:22:39 PM
A 2001: A Space Odyssey RPG adaptation? Uh...
Kinda having a tough time figuring that one out.
Not an RPG, just a module. Star Frontiers adapted 2001: A Space Odyssey into an adventure. I never played or ran it, but I've heard it's a railroad that jumps through time (you start playing the apes, and end up on the Discovery with HAL, and go through the Star Gate). They also adapted the sequel, 2010, but I don't know anything about that.
Oh you sweet summer children, I have such things to show you.
Wait, that didn't come out right. I don't like the way that reads. Oh well. Hopefully you know what I mean.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/07/2d/2e072d8bc81bf98af43d86ca1d406c87.jpg)
(https://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/call-of-cthulhu.jpg)
(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/opengraph/img/YoY6BSRYRdzISyMyEhvbvL_1ajw=/fit-in/1200x630/pic507752.jpg)
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TNL7DfeIDlM/Um7ZMJotW5I/AAAAAAAAAJw/LhOkqFTYppg/s1600/GW+AD+-+STRPG.jpg)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XPuSsldzEmo/VIHUMyKrBgI/AAAAAAAAGGU/8LtKNKB4tQ8/s1600/IMG_2914.JPG)
(http://en.wikifur.com/w/images/thumb/9/94/TMNT_and_Other_Strangeness_cover.jpg/400px-TMNT_and_Other_Strangeness_cover.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/88/01/13/880113d2b5f7131ae359122853bc07f0.jpg)
(http://homepages.bw.edu/~jcurtis/DWRPG_9001_box.jpg)
(https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Thieves-World-Chaosium.jpg)
They even put stupid Lythande on the cover even though Marion Zimmer Bradley skipped out way early in the anthology series. Lythande was probably one of the top poster-kids for special bunny freakshits. Now next to nobody has even heard of him (her).
There! Ya done been showed! Now get off muh lawn and take your razor scooter things and glow-in-the-dark stunt yo-yos and baseball cards and pogs with ya! . (sips Coors Lite)
(https://www.nnpdqdj.com/content/images/2018/09/boomer2.png)
Quote from: palaeomerus on September 01, 2021, 07:59:10 PM
Oh you sweet summer children, I have such things to show you.
Wait, that didn't come out right. I don't like the way that reads. Oh well. Hopefully you know what I mean.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/07/2d/2e072d8bc81bf98af43d86ca1d406c87.jpg)
Now that's just another level of obscure gaming reference!
Quote from: Pat on September 01, 2021, 02:20:23 PM
Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 01, 2021, 01:22:39 PM
A 2001: A Space Odyssey RPG adaptation? Uh...
Kinda having a tough time figuring that one out.
Not an RPG, just a module. Star Frontiers adapted 2001: A Space Odyssey into an adventure. I never played or ran it, but I've heard it's a railroad that jumps through time (you start playing the apes, and end up on the Discovery with HAL, and go through the Star Gate). They also adapted the sequel, 2010, but I don't know anything about that.
Actually its not a Star Frontiers module its a standalone setting adventure using the Star Frontiers system. Nothing of the SF setting in either.
You heard wrong then. Its not a railroad. But it is structured in some spots so after X amount of time Y happens. The PCs can totally fail at any point. It does though move through three points in the movie.
Phase one is the Man Apes. This one is a survival game decades before they became popular. Personally I think the time frame is way too short and just adjusted things from days to years. This one can be failed or at the very least stalled for a long time, possibly indefinitely through PC action or inaction.
Phase two is the Lunar excavation, with the PCs tasked to find the site before others do. This one can be failed too in various ways.
Phase three is the Jupiter mission. This one also has some events that happen after X amount of time. And the PCs can botch it. The Narration is a bit forced at the end but doesnt even happen if the PCs approach the problem from a different angle. And even the final encounter is up to the PCs.
There was indeed a 2010 module as well.
If you want unusual licensed RPGs, West End Games had a few for their MasterBook line:
(https://www.tankgirl.info/tankgirl/images/game/game_cov.jpg)
(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/FYUZ7oaEowhqJ71tSCQzTA__imagepagezoom/img/BsxfZIZyuyphpcljG_bW93Wwy6g=/fit-in/1200x900/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic989044.jpg)
(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/GVIIDBC265x8cuAvRr4ZiQ__imagepage/img/xEiBWejtN-ADRA1ANFAi6tUvLFo=/fit-in/900x600/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic674300.jpg)
But if you want a really obscure license, how about a game based on an animated early aughts webcomic about a cyberpunk dystopian future NYC with wormtrains, giant cockroaches, zombie mooks, and the eponymous innocent girl in indestructible, living armor?
(https://d1z39p6l75vw79.cloudfront.net/u/392976/c46ea73931e11bad907f70cb41537c3f9ed8f673/original/chichianrpgcover.jpg)
While licensed products are nothing new, and many licensed products are dope AF, this simultaneous rollout of three analogous licensed product lines does make me wonder what will be different between them, other than the pictures (or even the text).
Quote from: Squidi on September 01, 2021, 12:34:17 PM
...and every adventure would require somebody to play as Shipwreck, for no discernible reason.
Okay, stay with me. We do a convention one-shot. COBRA has some kind of dimension shifting machine and GI Joes from alternate timelines team up to shut it down. They're all different versions of Shipwreck. U.S. Navy Shipwreck. Atlantis-Never-Sank Shipwreck. Steampunk Airship Shipwreck. Colonies-Lost-in-1776 British Shipwreck. But everybody's bird is exactly the same.
I find your lack of robot cowboy centaur Shipwreck (& the other three kooky teen agers that make up the rest of the rock band he plays in as they travel the forests of Jupiter's lost moon Sylvanus looking for gigs and solving mysteries) most disturbing.
The thing I find most interesting is that Hasbro did NOT go to WotC to make these games. I think Hasbro knows the flaming SJW train wreck that Wizards would make of these properties.
Quote from: Oddend on September 01, 2021, 09:51:01 PM
While licensed products are nothing new, and many licensed products are dope AF, this simultaneous rollout of three analogous licensed product lines does make me wonder what will be different between them, other than the pictures (or even the text).
Yeah. I put even odds it's a "generic" system that doesn't really match any of the specific properties.
Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 01, 2021, 01:22:39 PM
A 2001: A Space Odyssey RPG adaptation? Uh...
Kinda having a tough time figuring that one out.
2001 and 2010 were made for Star Frontiers and as movie tie-ins were OK. As adventures, they absolutely sucked ass. You have never seen a railroad like a movie adaptation adventure.
And to be honest, I've stolen designs from the Buck Rogers TV series for my own Star Wars games.
Quote from: jeff37923 on September 01, 2021, 11:55:57 PM
And to be honest, I've stolen designs from the Buck Rogers TV series for my own Star Wars games.
I love the Scorpion model. It's a super neat kitbash.
Quote from: palaeomerus on September 01, 2021, 07:59:10 PM
Oh you sweet summer children, I have such things to show you....
The story-gamer types would have loved Dallas no doubt. Talk about high fantasy roleplaying.
I wish I had bought Thieves World back when I had the chance.
My friend and I liked TMNT at the time. Think there was a Ghostbusters RPG too, but I never got to play it.
Quote from: Pat on September 01, 2021, 09:37:03 PM
But if you want a really obscure license, how about a game based on an animated early aughts webcomic about a cyberpunk dystopian future NYC with wormtrains, giant cockroaches, zombie mooks, and the eponymous innocent girl in indestructible, living armor?
(https://d1z39p6l75vw79.cloudfront.net/u/392976/c46ea73931e11bad907f70cb41537c3f9ed8f673/original/chichianrpgcover.jpg)
Oh hey I have this one.
Quote from: zircher on September 01, 2021, 11:24:02 PM
The thing I find most interesting is that Hasbro did NOT go to WotC to make these games. I think Hasbro knows the flaming SJW train wreck that Wizards would make of these properties.
Interesting indeed.
Quote from: zircher on September 01, 2021, 11:24:02 PM
The thing I find most interesting is that Hasbro did NOT go to WotC to make these games. I think Hasbro knows the flaming SJW train wreck that Wizards would make of these properties.
I suspect it's more that going to WotC would require Hasbro to either divert resources from D&D, or invest more resources into WotC, which might not be cost-effective.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 01, 2021, 12:11:35 AM
I was googling for Tranformers themed dice and came across Renegade studios who are making an official RPG for Transformers, and a bunch of other Hasbro IPs, including GI Joe.
https://renegadegamestudios.com/transformers-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook-pre-order/
I prefer the animated RPG over the CG version.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll on September 04, 2021, 02:43:38 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 01, 2021, 12:11:35 AM
I was googling for Tranformers themed dice and came across Renegade studios who are making an official RPG for Transformers, and a bunch of other Hasbro IPs, including GI Joe.
https://renegadegamestudios.com/transformers-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook-pre-order/
I prefer the animated RPG over the CG version.
If you mean the cartoon over the live action films, I'd agree with you.
But then there's been a zillion cartoon and comic adaptations. It's hard to pin down one source for the IP.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 04, 2021, 04:40:41 PM
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll on September 04, 2021, 02:43:38 PM
Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 01, 2021, 12:11:35 AM
I was googling for Tranformers themed dice and came across Renegade studios who are making an official RPG for Transformers, and a bunch of other Hasbro IPs, including GI Joe.
https://renegadegamestudios.com/transformers-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook-pre-order/
I prefer the animated RPG over the CG version.
If you mean the cartoon over the live action films, I'd agree with you.
But then there's been a zillion cartoon and comic adaptations. It's hard to pin down one source for the IP.
Put me down for G1
Quote from: Ratman_tf on September 04, 2021, 04:40:41 PM
If you mean the cartoon over the live action films, I'd agree with you.
But then there's been a zillion cartoon and comic adaptations. It's hard to pin down one source for the IP.
Going by the cover, it looks like the baseline is the current (IDW/War for Cybertron?) reinterpretation of G1. Tough for me to be sure, since with the exception of Regeneration One (I bought into it since I was following the G1 comic
when it was new on newsstands, sporadically at first but with a continuous run from #47-80), I haven't kept up with the IP much since the start of Energon or so.