Biggest Franchises Without an RPG

[Jester David]

There are a ton of role-playing games out there and the strangest properties continue to get updates.
There have been two different WWE wrestling RPGs and I'm the proud owner of a Dragonball Z RPG ("proud" might be the wrong word). And over the summer, Palladium launched a Kickstarter for a Robotech combination tactical mini game/ RPG. While I love me some Robotech, the reason I do so was because I watched the show when I was under 10-years-old.

And yet there are surprising properties that have never had an RPG.
Off the top of my head I can think of the three big Hasbro franchises: G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony. And there's no Harry Potter RPG either despite the Potter franchise rivalling Spaceballs for merchandizing. And despite being a geek-centric franchise, there's no Highlander RPG.

What IPs surprise you with their lack of RPGs? What properties would you love to see an official RPG for?

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

Roboetech has had an RPG since the 80's so there's a fan base specifically for that at least, and some anime stuff in general. I'm a little surprised the avatar/airbender show never had an RPG.

GI Joe, Transformers - there are knockoff RPG's, maybe that's enough, though both seem like strong candidates for a game. With the Hasbro/WOTC connection it seems even more obvious.

The Pony thing only really got popular the last couple of years and seems like a lot of it is a younger crowd, maybe too young for a traditional RPG. Pokemon, though ... there's one I thought we would see a game for back in the 90's and it never happened.

Harry Potter - I suspect the interested fans went to either D&D or WoW. Another likely candidate though.

Highlander had a knockoff game and I suspect its time has passed since there's not much new for it. I'm not sure it was quite as popular as most of these others.

Surprises: Leverage got a game, Firefly is getting a new one. Dragon Age generated a multi-product line of an RPG while WoW tabletop disappeared years ago.

Star Trek - no one has licensed this in 10 years or so. Seems like a long gap, especially with the movies coming out.

Finally, as popular as superheroes have become over the last decade, the last DC line was a limited product run, and Marvel can't seem to keep it together for any length of time. It still surprises me.

 

[Derren]

Is there a James Bond rpg? Or a general Disney RPG?

 

[dm4hire]

Is there a James Bond rpg? Or a general Disney RPG?

James Bond was done way back in the day and as for general Disney, no.

Thundercats would be an interesting one I think. I'm sure there are more IPs out there.

 

[Jester David]

Pokemon, though ... there's one I thought we would see a game for back in the 90's and it never happened.

Oh that is a good one.


The Leverage RPG was an odd choice but MWP does seem to pick some odd choices for licenses. Leverage, Smallville, and most surprisingly... Demon Hunters. I can't of things mor niche than licensing an indie film by a company most famous for the Gamers movies.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I desperately want to run Breaking Bad as an rpg.

There are also a ton of HBO properties that would make great rpg experiences, but which probably would be prohibitively difficult to license.

 

[Morrus]

I desperately want to run Breaking Bad as an rpg.

There are also a ton of HBO properties that would make great rpg experiences, but which probably would be prohibitively difficult to license.

Most of them don't need their name on the cover of the book to be awesome RPG experiences.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

HBO: I had the odd confluence of seeing a Boardwalk Empire preview while looking at an old Gangbusters ad and it occurred to me that I finally knew what to do with a 1920's campaign other than stick Cthulu in it

Also, Game of Thrones has an RPG so there's one at least!

MWP does do some odd licenses. I'd like to see their system used for a non-licensed fantasy game, among others. It used to Mongoose was the king of licensing something new every year but they seem to have toned that down lately.

The 80's Bond game was cool and fun but I think Bond's time as an RPG license is probably past too. A more general modern action/espionage game would let people combine Bond/Bourne/Mission Impossible style stuff without the perceived (or real) limitations of a license.

 

[dm4hire]

Bourne would be difficult since it tends to focus on one person trying to remember who they are amidst the whole espionage story.

What about Adventure Time? Seems like a good spin that would help bring kids into the hobby. Futurama might also work as a campy sci-fi game.

 

[Enkhidu]

...Surprises: Leverage got a game...

I'm not sure this is still "common knowledge" around here, but Leverage isn't as much of a surprise once you remember that John Rogers (the co-creator/showrunner/producer) was a gamer before he was Hollywood bound. Heck, he is in fact one of our own. So Leverage as an RPG was a great fit.