Planet of the Apes Roleplaying Game Coming from Magnetic Press

Magnetic Press announced Planet of the Apes The Role-Playing Game based on the classic, long-running science fiction franchise.

The game will use the Magnetic Variant system which is a variation of the D6 System created by West End Games for their licensed RPGs Ghostbusters and Star Wars in the 1980s. From the product announcement:

Become an intellectual Chimpanzee who seeks to better apekind through science and exploration. Choose an Orangutan statesape whose weapons are philosophical debate, political savvy, and the power of the Sacred Scrolls themselves. Perhaps a Gorilla soldier is more your style—honor bound to protect Ape City and lead aggressive expansions into new territories.

What else, if not an ape? Be a time-lost astronaut struggling to grasp a world gone insane. Become a mute tribal human forced to scavenge for resources as you are hunted by murderous gorillas on horseback. The rules even allow you to play mutant survivors who use the power of their minds to turn their enemies against each other.

Your adventures in this world of madness will take you to the ruins of a world destroyed—see what remains of the Statue of Liberty, the ostentatious Ape City, the foreboding Forbidden Zone, and the mysterious mutant undercity. It is a world defined by the stark contrasts of brutality and civility. Are you ape enough to handle the truth about the world you live in or will you lose your mind to it?

The launch lineup announced so far includes the 300+ page core rulebook, The ANSA Files classic film sourcebook, The Forbidden Zone adventure box filled with game-enhancing tools, Ruins of Tomorrow boxed set of 3D resin unpainted miniatures, and additional products that will be unlocked during the pre-order campaign.

The announcement does not say this pre-order campaign will be a crowdfunding campaign, but much of the terminology used heavily implies it. No date has been announced, but there is an email sign-up for notifications on the announcement page.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Wonder how many people have read the original novel, either under this name or the UK translation's Monkey Planet. The films aren't exactly a faithful adaptation to put it mildly, but the theme is still sort of there.

Think I'd still rather have a licensed Kamandi RPG myself.

 

[Jer]

Huh. A friend and I were brainstorming "IP" that hadn't yet been made into a licensed RPG and "Planet of the Apes" didn't cross either of our minds.

 

[Reynard]

There's some old school biological essentialism in that first paragraph. Oof.

Maybe they should have gone with the more recent films...

 

[sevenbastard]

Good to see they are incorporating "Beneth the Planet of the Apes". Hopefully a different party can have better luck with that particular dungeon.....

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

There's some old school biological essentialism in that first paragraph. Oof.

Maybe they should have gone with the more recent films...

They kind of are. The early films didn't really have different types of primates (partly owing to SFX limitations), species-stereotyped or otherwise. They were all just generic "apes" in those. Weirdly, having multiple species is more true to the rather obscure novel, though.

 

[Reynard]

They kind of are. The early films didn't really have different types of primates (partly owing to SFX limitations), species-stereotyped or otherwise. They were all just generic "apes" in those. Weirdly, having multiple species is more true to the rather obscure novel, though.

I am pretty sure it was chimps, gorillas and orangutans in the original film.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I am pretty sure it was chimps, gorillas and orangutans in the original film.

Maybe, but the makeup's the same for everyone barring some wig color differences. You don't get the varied builds in the modern movies with their CGI SFX - and hopefully the game won't have superpowered apes bounding around either. Save that for the DCU when they finally do a film with Grodd as the main villain and the transformed Justice league of Apes.

 

[Reynard]

Maybe, but the makeup's the same for everyone barring some wig color differences. You don't get the varied builds in the modern movies with their CGI SFX - and hopefully the game won't have superpowered apes bounding around either. Save that for the DCU when they finally do a film with Grodd as the main villain and the transformed Justice league of Apes.

Grodd on The Flash was AMAZING.

 

[Anon Adderlan]

There's some old school biological essentialism in that first paragraph. Oof.

The entire premise revolves around biological essentialism, and just because future apes have a caste system doesn't mean it's a good thing.

Maybe they should have gone with the more recent films...

While this would be my preference as well, it still doesn't eliminate the themes of biological essentialism.