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.

 

[Von Ether]

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.

That wasn't my impression watching the first film. Or to me more precise, I took the orange wigs to be orangutans, the large solider types to be gorillas, and smaller ones to be chimps.

Then again in the first season of the Expanse without the books, one might assume all Earthers were rich politicians, Martians all militant types, and Belters all blue collar.

 

[Von Ether]

By the minis design, it seems they are going with the old movies.

 

[Doctor Depravo]

Maybe, but the makeup's the same for everyone barring some wig color differences. You don't get the varied builds….

No, definitely.

OG General Ursus and his troops were gorillas.
OG Zaius was an orangutan.
OG Zira, Cornelius, and Caesar were chimps.

The masks all had different structures, textures, hairstyles, and colors to distinguish ‘em.

Granted, as the franchise progressed (and budgets shrank), they often resorted to “generic apes” for throngs.

 

[Swanosaurus]

No, definitely.

OG General Ursus and his troops were gorillas.
OG Zaius was an orangutan.
OG Zira, Cornelius, and Caesar were chimps.

The masks all had different structures, textures, hairstyles, and colors to distinguish ‘em.

Granted, as the franchise progressed (and budgets shrank), they often resorted to “generic apes” for throngs.

I think the differences were also pointed out explicitly several times in the dialogue of the original movie; I'd have to re-watch it to be sure, but I think the Orang Utans were supposed to be the clerical ruling caste, the Gorillas were the grunts, and the chimps ... I don't know, everything else? Generally sympathetic?

 

[Grendel_Khan]

I don't really care about this from a setting or system perspective, but holy cow, we need more RPG covers by Bill Sienkiewicz! It's not the image up there—you have to click through to see it.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

No, definitely.

Okay, I stand (well, sit) corrected. Don't really see much difference in the fine details myself but if that was the intent they were closer to the book than I thought.

I don't really care about this from a setting or system perspective, but holy cow, we need more RPG covers by Bill Sienkiewicz! It's not the image up there—you have to click through to see it.

That is lovely, isn't it? He was always a great cover artist in the comics industry, his work on Moon Knight's 1980 series is probably half the reason he's as well known as he is these days.

 

[Ghost2020]

Now we'll have three separate systems for Planet of the Apes styled rpgs:

Apes Victorious - OSR

Terra Primate - Unisystem

Planet of the Apes - D6 System
D6 does have a decent following, curious if the combination of the IP and rules will bring out the fans.


Totally agreed on the Sienkiewicz cover though. Wow!

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Now we'll have three separate systems for Planet of the Apes styled rpgs:

And there's Feng Shui, the current edition of which added a very definitely post-apocalyptic future dominated by cyborg simians - some of whom have an interest in time-travelling back to the past to seize power there as well, so that's an echo of the old movies' time loop.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

That is lovely, isn't it? He was always a great cover artist in the comics industry, his work on Moon Knight's 1980 series is probably half the reason he's as well known as he is these days.

He's a total legend, one of my all-time favorites. Stray Toasters and Elektra: Assassin showed how far you could push comic book art.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

By the minis design, it seems they are going with the old movies.

It's superficially a strange decision, given the recent movie series is well-regarded, and only slightly less iconic the original, and frankly, quite a lot more intelligent and arguably game-able than the original series.

But when you factor in the nostalgia cash-in/aging nerd market factor, and the vast amounts of disposable cash that Gen X and to a lesser extent older Millennials have, then I think the reasoning becomes a lot more clear. It's people in their 20s and early 30s and even younger who like and relate to the new Apes movies, but 45+, big cash group? They're more about the older movies. That's what this choice is about.