Can Someone Explain the Basics of Palladium/TMNT?

[Retreater]

I bit off more than I can chew and agreed to present Palladium's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness RPG (recently reprinted) on a podcast next week. It was my first RPG, and I remember being confused by it when I was 10 years old. I didn't think I would be confused with almost 40 additional years of gaming experience under my belt. I was wrong.

Can anyone give me a basic overview of how this system (the Palladium Megaverse in general) is supposed to work? Like, I don't understand combat, skill checks, or anything.

Thanks!

 

[jdrakeh]

If skills checks are as they appear in all other Palladium products (I am not exaggerating), you have the right to be confused. Because the rules never explicitly tell you how to make a skill check. Some people have you roll equal to or less than a skill's % rating. Some people just have you roll less than that rating. Everybody does it a little bit different because, again, the rules never explicitly spell it out. And then, of course, some skills aren't structured like that at all (mostly combat skills).