General RPG Rules DiscussionDiscuss the rules of any game except D&D or Pathfinder, such as Arcana Evolved, Mutants & Masterminds, Star Wars Saga, d20 Modern, and the like.
I'm trying to create a Tramsformers RPG, but I'm making little progress.
I have decided to base ot off of the Star Wars Saga Edition. The rules just "feel" more like Transformers than any other game I've read.
Choosing a vehicle form for your character will be similar to choosing a race in other games. (+2 to this score, -2 to that score, bonus to a skill, special ability or a bonus feat, etc.) and "car" will be the "human" choice. (most common form, no ability mods, bonus trained skill, bonus feat)
The classes will remain generally the same. The Noble will be renamed Leader for flavor's sake, and the Jedi will be heavily reflavored, and mildly reworked.
Past this, though, I don't really have much. Everytime I try to work on this, my mind just goes blank.
Can anyone help get my little project jump-started?
If you can find a copy for reference you might want to track down Mechamorphosis, a product that Fantasy Flight Games published for their Horizon d20 line a while back.
I put this together some time ago as the start to a campaign, but haven't gotten around to doing much with. It's free, though, and handles most issues that you'll have with Transformers, specifically.
You may also want to take a look at Mechagenesis, which is based upon True 20. It is detailed, fairly well balanced, and is being supported by the publisher, with new products in the works.
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Unfortunately, right now I don't have any money to be spending on extra books. (not even the $5 it would take me to get Mechamorphosis...)
And I don't know if it's my computer or what, but when I try to load that pdf file, it just comes up as a big blank screen.
Right now I think the biggest thing I need to do is figure out exactly how I'm going to change the Jedi class. I like the way the force powers work, but they all make a reference to the Use the Force skill, and I don't really see anything equivalent to 'Use the Force' in Transformers.
How about "Control the Machine" or "Use the Spark" or something similar?
If I understand correctly, the goal is to shift things a little so that you keep the same game balance but have giant transforming robots rather than people with laser guns (and swords) using semi-psychic powers. Names are important, but they aren't nearly as importat as the mechanics they are attached to.
Back in the days, each Transformer had one (or, rarely, more than one) special power: Trailbreaker could project forcefields, Ironhide had his "miracle liquids," Skywarp could teleport, Starscream had the null ray... those special powers seem like perfect candidates as replacements for force powers.
Yes, I do intend to keep as many things as possible working exactly like they do in the book. (less work for me, and less chance of unwittingly unbalancing something.) But some things about Star Wars just doesn't work for Transformers no matter how much you re-flavor it.
A lot of the force powers do things that don't really happen in Transformers. Like telekinetically moving objects. That almost never happens in transformers. The only instance I can recall is The Fallen lifting up rocks around the pyramid in the new movie. However it's something that even the most fledgling Force-user can accomplish. And things like Skywarp's teleportation. A good candidate for the new Jedi-based class, but no existing force power mimics it.
As far as the Use the Force skill, I was thinking of doing away with it entirely. Any instance of Use the Force in the game mechanics would either be replaced by another skill that more-or-less fit whatever is going on, or in the case of Force Powers that scale up with a higher Use the Force check result would just scale up with level instead, always having the same effect every time it's used at a given level, much like spells in D&D.
Just keep in mind it's nothing you can publish....SWSE is not OGC.
And since UtF is rather important for determining the effects of any force power or the like, I don't think removing the skill would be a very good idea.... Maybe just rename it Tech Savvy or Custom Tool Use or whatever.
As for teleportation, look to the Fold Space force power in the Jedi Academy Training Manual. It's a power normally used by the Aing-Ti Monks, some alien force-users unaffiliated with the Jedi except for training Jacen Solo in some of their techniques, apparently.
The Drain Energy Force power in that book might potentially represent Starscream's null ray, but it's fairly short range (6 squares, i.o.w. 30 feet) and might not QUITE accurately represent the null rays' effects on Transformers (though it seems adequate for the effect on smaller machines, like a Transformer's rifle or something).
The recent series Transformers Animated, on Cartoon Network up until recently IIRC, included some things that fit better in the SWSE rules. Ratchet, the Autobot medic on Optimus' team (obviously, his vehicle mode was an ambulance), was a surly doc-bot with a pair of electromagnetic projectors on his arms, which could move objects around from a moderate distance with some kind of electromagnetic beams from both projectors (I don't recall Ratchet ever moving anything with just one projector aimed at a target, anyway). He also had an EMP projector, which fired small electromagnetic pulses at a nearby target to temporarily disable pain sensors and, when turned to full power, could paralyze a Transformer (or maybe it knocked them out, I forget). Prowl was a cyber-ninja (vehicle mode: fast-pursuit motorcycle), who meditated and focused to tap the energies of his Spark, for operation of nearby devices, breaking free of mind-control or paralysis or the like, and a few other feats I can't remember. He called it "mind over spark" I think. He could also project short-range holographic duplicates of himself to trick enemies, and had boost jets for extended leaps and very brief flight (flight was a personal ability mostly limited to Decepticons in that series).
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It's been a long time since I looked at star wars, but I always felt like the jedi were the most powerful class in the system, and they also worked very differently than the other classes... why not just drop the jedi class entirely and save yourself the work of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? reflavor the other classes that use minimal force stuff and start your campagin... just a suggestion.
Sadly, Mechamorphosis is pretty awful. The main failing is that it shifts everything from d20 into 'vehicle scale'... where are vehicle/mecha are the SAME SCALE. Pretty worthless for Transformers, when you consider that.
In fact, that's one of the big failings of d20 for Transformers. The insistance on balance is pretty rediculous when you have Megatron and Frenzy running around, and the physical differences between them are hardware. If Brawn picks up Megatron's Fusion Cannon (as he's done before), does he suddenly gain 20 levels? Etc...
Honestly, your BEST bet is to say 'screw d20' and find something a little looser and not so obsessed with the almighty XP.
If you don't mind Mutants and Masterminds I bet it would work pretty well for a transformers game. On the official forums over at Green Ronin I've seen plenty of transformers characters. If you want to custom-design your own system, that would be something else, but it might be worth a look.
If you don't mind Mutants and Masterminds I bet it would work pretty well for a transformers game. On the official forums over at Green Ronin I've seen plenty of transformers characters. If you want to custom-design your own system, that would be something else, but it might be worth a look.
I just picked up the Manga and Mecha suppliement for M&M today, and flipped over it. While it obsensibly will cover mecha, I haven't yet dug into it. IT's a little disturbing that there's very little 'manga' art in the book (a lot are just regular RPG art with Asians in it, most others use mid-grade 'Christopher Hart' style artwork), and it's written by someone who knows anime/manga from watching Toonami a few years ago.. but, oh well... there may be enough crunch to make it work, at least.
To play a TF game using d20 could be done using some simple house rules "borrowed" from various gaming supplements.
Most mecha games have HP for each of the mecha's main "parts" (arm, leg, hand, foot, head, body). Allow 'called shots' at specific body parts at penalty; rolls that miss the called shot but would normally hit the mecha hit the body instead.
Robotech (Palladium Games) - Mega-Damage. 100 HP = 1 M.D. Weapons that do not do M.D. cannot harm things/creatures with M.D. for HP. This is highly unrealistic but works in a game context; human machine guns wailing on a tank will barely scratch it, but one well-placed RPG might.
Constructs: Giant talking robots are simply Large-Gargantuan intelligent Constructs with the Alternate Form ability. They do damage as human weapons scaled properly for their size, and possibly with one extra die and/or up one die step to impress their "uber-ness".
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Honestly, your BEST bet is to say 'screw d20' and find something a little looser and not so obsessed with the almighty XP.
Eh, a level-based system could work, you just have to be a bit looser than normal.
And power disparities don't have to be that big a deal. As long as everyone has something to do in combat, it should be okay. I seem to recall Rumble and Frenzy being especially annoying to the Autobots. And hell, in issue # 3 of the Marvel series, Brawn took on Megatron solo* for a surprisingly long time.
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* - Well, he had help from Spider-Man.
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To play a TF game using d20 could be done using some simple house rules "borrowed" from various gaming supplements.
The problem isn't the mecha designs 'per se', but the concepts of mecha as CHARACTERS. How do you treat, for instance, Fortress Maximus, Devastator, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Frenzy, and a Minicon all as characters within the same d20 rules set. It can be done, but it's a bit of a pain .. and with d20 worshipping the almighty XP, can become a bit of a futile quest.
The problem isn't the mecha designs 'per se', but the concepts of mecha as CHARACTERS. How do you treat, for instance, Fortress Maximus, Devastator, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Frenzy, and a Minicon all as characters within the same d20 rules set. It can be done, but it's a bit of a pain .. and with d20 worshipping the almighty XP, can become a bit of a futile quest.
Dude, you do know you can run a d20 game with absolutely no experience points, right?
All that's required is for the DM to let players know when their characters level up.
Last edited by ValhallaGH; 6th September 2009 at 06:35 PM..
Reason: typos
Robotech (Palladium Games) - Mega-Damage. 100 HP = 1 M.D. Weapons that do not do M.D. cannot harm things/creatures with M.D. for HP. This is highly unrealistic but works in a game context; human machine guns wailing on a tank will barely scratch it, but one well-placed RPG might.
Mekton uses a conversion of 1 Kill (mecha scale) = 10 Hits (human scale). The CP2020 conversion rules changes this to 1 Kill = 25 Hits. In Mechwarrior since every die you use is a d6, a 6 on a human scale weapon's damage roll is 1/2 a point of 'mech damage.
Dude, you do know you can run a d20 game with absolutely no experience points, right?
All that's required is for the DM to let players know when their characters level up.
Are you being deliberately obtuse?
With the usual d20 model, a 5th level character is generally about the same power level as any other 5th level character. But this breaks down very quickly when you have varying degrees of equipment. A 5th level character with a bunch of +3 gear is much more powerful than one without.
With Transformers, you're dealing with the difference between the fusion cannon and a bunch of 2d6 laser pistols. The character levels (which generally define the internal skilsl and powers of someone) are completely overridden by the body and equipment the character currently possesses.
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