Renegade announces new editions of Transformers, GI Joe, and Power Rangers RPGs, using D&D 5.5E instead of Essence20

Renegade is ending support for its Essence20 game system, in favor of Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E. Today, Renegade announced it was planning on publishing new editions of its Transformers, GI Joe, and Power Rangers RPG systems. However, the new editions will not use the bespoke Essence20 game system created by Renegade. Instead, the new editions will use a modified version of Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E. Renegade will also release Essence20 to 5.5E conversion guides for free on their website at a later date. Update: Renegade said on their Discord that they were ending support for E20 releases because sales were insufficient to continue with the system.

Renegade will release a BackerKit crowdfunding campaign for the new games, with Transformers and GI Joe running first and a Power Rangers BackerKit coming at a later time.

The Essence20 line seems to have been popular for Renegade, as they've been publishing content for all three licensed properties (as well as My Little Pony) since 2022. All three properties are licensed by Hasbro, which of course also owns Wizards of the Coast, the maker of Dungeons & Dragons. One could speculate that Hasbro could have pushed for a change to their big games system, but one could also argue that Renegade is looking to expand their playerbase by switching from a bespoke game system to a system with a massive existing playerbase.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Space 1889 is another one that's soon to start crowdfunding a 5e version, only a couple of years after delivering on a campaign using their original game engine.

Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

How would they know? They didn't buy them! I mean, it's possible that this is some sort of bizarre exception to the general rule, but if I were a betting man I'd stake a lot on the 5E factor being the culprit. Just look at The One Ring vs Adventures in Middle Earth (5E) sales--exact same game, different systems. One sells much more than the other. Can you guess which?

It doesn‘t mean that every game that does this will follow have those same results however. Maybe it works out just fine for them. On the other hand, maybe most players simply aren‘t interested in their friday night game involving the plot to steal energon cubes from starscream either. I hope that I am wrong though, because I enjoy seeing when these games suceed.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.

Jolly green giant begins playing in the background

 

[Retreater]

Congrats to the games of Hasbro's toy properties moving to Hasbro's game property.

 

[Retreater]

Now all restaurants are Taco Bell.

I'm looking forward to the Three Seashell editions of these games.

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

I'm looking forward to the Three Seashell editions of these games.

Will knitting be a feat?

 

[Belen]

Renegade is basically owned by Hasbro at this point.

 

[Belen]

Feels like a hail mary to justify the costs of the licenses. Will the change bring new eyes to the products? Likely so for the initial books, but hard to say if some DnD player will supplement their purchases with say GI Joe. The downside to moving to a DnD clone is you are still competing with DnD but now stand out from it just a little bit less. That said, there are people who feel WotC is falling down on their settings so there might be the gap to be exploited. For what it is worth, it is unlikely this will make me a customer of these games.

Guarantee this will be part of a worlds beyond etc that get added to DDB.

 

[Reynard]

Someone who if familiar: tell be about Essence 20. How does it work? How compatible is it with 5E 2014? Is it fun? Can you use one or all of those games to build, say, a post apocalyptic campaign?

 

[mamba]

This isn't about licensing though, or they wouldn't be still using those IPs.

the post I responded to was about a game system going out of circulation, which happens regardless of the license continuing here (or the license being picked up by someone else as in the cases I mentioned)