Transformers d20

[Chimera245]

I'm trying to create a Tramsformers RPG, but I'm making little progress.

I have decided to base ot off of the Star Wars Saga Edition. The rules just "feel" more like Transformers than any other game I've read.

Choosing a vehicle form for your character will be similar to choosing a race in other games. (+2 to this score, -2 to that score, bonus to a skill, special ability or a bonus feat, etc.) and "car" will be the "human" choice. (most common form, no ability mods, bonus trained skill, bonus feat)

The classes will remain generally the same. The Noble will be renamed Leader for flavor's sake, and the Jedi will be heavily reflavored, and mildly reworked.

Past this, though, I don't really have much. Everytime I try to work on this, my mind just goes blank.

Can anyone help get my little project jump-started?

 

[00Machado]

Hi,

If you can find a copy for reference you might want to track down Mechamorphosis, a product that Fantasy Flight Games published for their Horizon d20 line a while back.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Horizon-Mechamorphosis-Various/dp/1589941845/ref=pd_sim_b_3]Amazon.com: Horizon: Mechamorphosis (9781589941847): Various, Fantasy Flight Games: Books[/ame]

Hope this helps.

 

[Vance]

I put this together some time ago as the start to a campaign, but haven't gotten around to doing much with. It's free, though, and handles most issues that you'll have with Transformers, specifically.

http://www.pixelsagas.com/library/files/Spychanger_City_First_Wave.pdf

 

[ValhallaGH]

You may also want to take a look at Mechagenesis, which is based upon True 20. It is detailed, fairly well balanced, and is being supported by the publisher, with new products in the works.

 

[Chimera245]

Unfortunately, right now I don't have any money to be spending on extra books. (not even the $5 it would take me to get Mechamorphosis...)

And I don't know if it's my computer or what, but when I try to load that pdf file, it just comes up as a big blank screen.

Right now I think the biggest thing I need to do is figure out exactly how I'm going to change the Jedi class. I like the way the force powers work, but they all make a reference to the Use the Force skill, and I don't really see anything equivalent to 'Use the Force' in Transformers.

 

[ValhallaGH]

How about "Control the Machine" or "Use the Spark" or something similar?

If I understand correctly, the goal is to shift things a little so that you keep the same game balance but have giant transforming robots rather than people with laser guns (and swords) using semi-psychic powers. Names are important, but they aren't nearly as importat as the mechanics they are attached to.

Good luck.

 

[Sammael]

Back in the days, each Transformer had one (or, rarely, more than one) special power: Trailbreaker could project forcefields, Ironhide had his "miracle liquids," Skywarp could teleport, Starscream had the null ray... those special powers seem like perfect candidates as replacements for force powers.

 

[Chimera245]

Yes, I do intend to keep as many things as possible working exactly like they do in the book. (less work for me, and less chance of unwittingly unbalancing something.) But some things about Star Wars just doesn't work for Transformers no matter how much you re-flavor it.

A lot of the force powers do things that don't really happen in Transformers. Like telekinetically moving objects. That almost never happens in transformers. The only instance I can recall is The Fallen lifting up rocks around the pyramid in the new movie. However it's something that even the most fledgling Force-user can accomplish. And things like Skywarp's teleportation. A good candidate for the new Jedi-based class, but no existing force power mimics it.

As far as the Use the Force skill, I was thinking of doing away with it entirely. Any instance of Use the Force in the game mechanics would either be replaced by another skill that more-or-less fit whatever is going on, or in the case of Force Powers that scale up with a higher Use the Force check result would just scale up with level instead, always having the same effect every time it's used at a given level, much like spells in D&D.

 

[samsimilian]

Spycraft

Spycraft features a ruleset for transformers, it's very good!!!
Origin of the Species: Transmechs - Crafty Games | DriveThruRPG.com
of course you'd also need the core rules , but you would save time 'cause you would not have to convert the star wars rules.

 

[Arkhandus]

Just keep in mind it's nothing you can publish....SWSE is not OGC.

And since UtF is rather important for determining the effects of any force power or the like, I don't think removing the skill would be a very good idea.... Maybe just rename it Tech Savvy or Custom Tool Use or whatever.

As for teleportation, look to the Fold Space force power in the Jedi Academy Training Manual. It's a power normally used by the Aing-Ti Monks, some alien force-users unaffiliated with the Jedi except for training Jacen Solo in some of their techniques, apparently.

The Drain Energy Force power in that book might potentially represent Starscream's null ray, but it's fairly short range (6 squares, i.o.w. 30 feet) and might not QUITE accurately represent the null rays' effects on Transformers (though it seems adequate for the effect on smaller machines, like a Transformer's rifle or something).

The recent series Transformers Animated, on Cartoon Network up until recently IIRC, included some things that fit better in the SWSE rules. Ratchet, the Autobot medic on Optimus' team (obviously, his vehicle mode was an ambulance), was a surly doc-bot with a pair of electromagnetic projectors on his arms, which could move objects around from a moderate distance with some kind of electromagnetic beams from both projectors (I don't recall Ratchet ever moving anything with just one projector aimed at a target, anyway). He also had an EMP projector, which fired small electromagnetic pulses at a nearby target to temporarily disable pain sensors and, when turned to full power, could paralyze a Transformer (or maybe it knocked them out, I forget). Prowl was a cyber-ninja (vehicle mode: fast-pursuit motorcycle), who meditated and focused to tap the energies of his Spark, for operation of nearby devices, breaking free of mind-control or paralysis or the like, and a few other feats I can't remember. He called it "mind over spark" I think. He could also project short-range holographic duplicates of himself to trick enemies, and had boost jets for extended leaps and very brief flight (flight was a personal ability mostly limited to Decepticons in that series).