GI Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony RPGs Also Confirmed For 2021

Renegade Game Studios and Hasbro confirmed to Forbes that GI Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers will be coming as official RPGs, following the already announced Power Rangers tabletop roleplaying game.

While they were hinted at in their press release this week, it hadn't been confirmed that - other than Power Rangers -- these other games would be tabletop RPGS.

Casey Collins at Hasbro told Forbes "“The tabletop and roleplaying games Renegade Game Studios innovated for the Power Rangers franchise have proved to authentically connect with both gamers and the Ranger Nation and we are confident that G.I. Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony fans will love the exciting games coming soon.”

Renegade Game Studios' Scott Gaeta elaborated a little more, confirming that the games would be powered by the D&D 5th Edition rules. "Part of the strategy here is that if we want a GI Joe fan to play an RPG. We want to use the system that’s most common and widely known. Fifth Edition at this point is the common language in RPGs. We went back and forth on our discussions but we landed on Fifth Edition being what we wanted to use to achieve our design goals.”

The games should be released in 2021.

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These aren't the only animated properties seeing new RPG revivals. Recently D&D Beyond owner Fandom announced Legends of Grayskull: The Masters of the Universe Roleplaying Game, and a Dragon Prince RPG, powered by the Cortext Prime system. Additionally, Monolith Edition recently announced a Batman roleplaying game.

 

[Undrave]

GI Joe works for this, since the team is composed of various specialists (AKA it's a class-based party!) and you got Cobra having large facilities to infiltrate. It could work.

I wonder if they'll fold MASK into it?

Transformers is a bit of an odd one. You CAN apply the concept of classes, either based on stuff from various fictions like Scout, Warrior, Medic, Engineer, maybe Seeker? Or be a Functionist and base it on alt-mode (DOWN WITH FUNCTIONISM!).

 

[Nardgrog]

So Hasbro is trying to liven up its old IP using 5E. Best of luck with that one. If there is one thing D&D players are looking for is to roleplay My Little Pony. GI Joe has a slight possibility of success out of those three.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Added GI Joe and My Little Pony (2nd iteration) to...
The world's most complete directory of tabletop RPG depictions of fictive worlds which originated in other media.

 

[aramis erak]

There's already a really good MLP RPG... scrapping it after 3 years seems a bit inane for such a niche product.

Yes, I have run MLP. With a group of adults. Many laughs. And the rules are written for an upper elementary reading level.

 

[Nardgrog]

There's already a really good MLP RPG... scrapping it after 3 years seems a bit inane for such a niche product.

Yes, I have run MLP. With a group of adults. Many laughs. And the rules are written for an upper elementary reading level.

EA tried to sell a MLP online rp game, it tanked and tanked hard. I could see it doing well as a boxed game you'd take out to have some fun. But to spend 2 years in a MLP campaign, not gonna happen.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I see this as good news. While I know of a number of people having consternation about these commercial IPs ending up primarily with 5E, you have to remember what the biggest market is. Honestly, I see it at a waste of development resources to just keep making up bespoke systems for every new game - particularly ones where the main draw is simply that it is an established IP. I’m all for innovation in game design, but for these types of titles why take the risk?

All you want is a popular, established system that works - which is what the 5E engine provides - with a few tweaks possibly where it is needed to suit the genre. Somebody mentioned Marvel above, which has had multiple short lived RPGs over the years, often with experimental systems that haven't established a stable fanbase. If you want these RPGs based on IPs like these to last, then ensure they maximize their unit sales with proven markets and game systems.

Having said that, I must admit that none of titles are really aimed at me - so maybe if they were I’d be more passionate about which game mechanics they use. For me though, I’m just happy that there is enough interest in the RPG hobby that it is seen as a viable medium worth investing in for these well known titles. I would hope that the games are self contained though - and don’t require other products to play.

 

[marroon69]

Wait? Are these three classic settings they were talking about? Not Greyhawk, Spelljammer, Darksun or something remotely related to the DnD brand? huh not what I was thinking

 

[Morrus]

Wait? Are these three classic settings they were talking about?

No.

 

[wingsandsword]

Added GI Joe and My Little Pony (2nd iteration) to...
The world's most complete directory of tabletop RPG depictions of fictive worlds which originated in other media.

I didn't know that was a thing.

Looking on it. . .

I DEFINITELY didn't know they did an adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey for Star Frontiers.

I did see something that was missing. A Song of Ice and Fire (before it was Game of Thrones) got a D&D conversion in Dragon Magazine #305 (March 2003).

In any case, it's interesting to see them make this. I've seen fan-made GI Joe and Transformers RPG's for 20+ years now. I remember writing up most of the major GI Joe characters for d20 Modern ~15 years ago.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Added GI Joe and My Little Pony (2nd iteration) to...
The world's most complete directory of tabletop RPG depictions of fictive worlds which originated in other media.

Nice list. It is missing the original version of the Adventures of Luther Arkwright RPG, which was released in 1992. The supplement released for RuneQuest 6/Mythras by The Design Mechanism is due for a rerelease as a stand-alone game in the next year (or so).