Has anyone here ever thought to create a Transformers Tabletop RPG? Imagine miniatures of your G1 characters, to scale, with bot and vehicle mode, or your own custom character, using dice and moving like in Warhammer or Lord of the Rings: Hobbit games, with scenarios and battles. Would you be up for playing such a game?
I was thinking, in a pinch, to use the Tech specs to help create characters or play existing, and the Heroes of Cybertron or WST figures to help out to stand in as miniatures. And let's say you've got Firepower of 7, you roll 7 dice. The other guy has a Firepower of 4, he rolls 4 dice. You get 14, he gets 24, so he wins. Something like that. At least, I think that might work.
This subject has come up a couple times actually. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/989754-transformers-themed-d-d.html http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/980378-transformers-rpg.html http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-general-discussion/313472-transformers-d20.html
Good info, Rexidus, thanks! I found some further info, namely GURPS and the Wiki D20 article, saying that D20 is D&D v3.0-based. I'm looking through those three links you posted, along with this PDF, and seeing whether it'll work for what I'm looking to do. Basically, I want to get some miniature Transformers, possibly even use the WST (World's Smallest Transformers) figures or Heroes of Cybertron as the characters (until we can come up with some custom plastic figurines), and run through missions/scenarios like in Warhammer or Lord of the Rings, with a Gamemaster and multiple factions (Autobots, Decepticons, Junkions, Quintessons, EDC, Unicron), functions (Scout, Warrior, Demolitions, etc), and using the Tech Specs, try to roleplay out some Transformer missions. One thing I would like to have here is to include the 'armies' that games like Warhammer have. Megatron has seekers, and the Insecticons have drones; Autobots don't have this, but I was thinking to 'fudge' it a bit and use Skyfire's base model of a VF-1S as a basis for Autobot mass-produced armies. Hopefully it can work. I just need some folks to play test it.
Good luck man. Yeah anything D20 is built using the core D&D 3rd Edition rule set which is a very solid and flexible rule set.
I'm going to get to the bookstore or Amazon.com tomorrow to see what they have. My girlfriend has said she's interested in playing the Lord of the Rings: Hobbit RPG, so if I can get her into that hardcore, perhaps she'll try something like a TF RPG, or even Star Trek or Robotech. Now, this is very very rudimentary, but I was just testing a simplified system for a mock fight between Skywarp and Whirl, discounting any special abilities: Whirl: END 8, STR 8, FPW 8; hit points = ENDx10 + STRx5 = 120 Skywarp: END 7, STR 5, FPW 7; hit points = ENDx10 + STRx5 = 105 So, Whirl attacks Skywarp. FP 8 (base damage), rolls a 5 = 13. Skywarp has END 7, so resulting damage is 4. HP is now 101. Skywarp retaliates. FP 7, rolls 6 (Critical dmg+10) = 23-8=15. Whirl is now at 105. I wanted to try to extrapolate everything from the tech specs, and make every number there important. So, Prime vs. Megatron! Prime: END 10, STR 10, FPW 8; HP=150 Megatron: END 8, STR 10, FPW 10; HP=130 Megatron hits first, rolls 4; dmg = 10+4 = 14. Prime's END is 10, so DMG = 4. Prime is at 146 HP. Prime hits back, rolls a 5; dmg = 8+5 = 13. Megatron's END = 8, so DMG = 5. Megatron is at 125 HP. I want there to be enough HP for a game to last a long time, but not so much that it's tedious. I'll keep working on it though. Movement: SPD, translated to inches in vehicle mode. So Skywarp moves 9 in jet mode, Whirl 8. In bot mode, divide by 3, and round down. Skywarp would be 3, Whirl would be 2. Megatron 1, Prime 2. These are just early thoughts, so all this can change. Tomorrow's a new day!
Weapons! There are a huge number of weapons used in Generation 1 characters. The issue is to figure out how much damage it'll do. For example: Laser pistol: dmg 2, range 3, acc 3 Laser rifle: dmg 4, range 4, acc 4 Missiles: dmg 10, range 8, acc 6 Energon Sword: dmg 3, range 2, acc 7; powered: dmg 6 Energon Mace: dmg 6, range 2, acc 7 Energon Axe: dmg 6, range 2, acc 7 So: dmg - amount of HP lost, plus firepower (for projectiles)/strength (for melee weapons) rng - distance (in inches) the weapon is useful. Outside this, it might hit with half accuracy acc - accuracy (chance to hit); all characters can dodge, must roll over weapon's accuracy to dodge Example: Mace vs. Energon sword (powered) Grimlock (150 HP, 10 STR) uses a powered Energon Sword on Megatron. That's 16. You roll a 4, making it 20 HP. Megatron tries to dodge, rolls 3. Dodge fails. His defense, though (END 8) means he gets 12 dmg. HP = 112. Megatron (112 HP, 10 STR) uses his energon mace. That's 16. You roll a 5, making it 21. Grimlock tries to dodge, rolls a 6. Dodge fails. His defense, though (END 10) means he gets 11 dmg. HP = 139. How's that?
Another side bit in combat, after watching some Robotech RPG Tactics: Command points - 1 for every bot on the board in your squad, plus (rank-5) for your leader. So I have Optimus, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jazz, Trailbreaker, Bumblebee. Six bots, plus Prime's rank-5 gives 11 command points. My friend has Prowl, Wheeljack, Ironhide, Ratchet, Ricochet, and Hound. Rally - if you're higher rank than other bots on your faction, you can rally (for 1 command point). So... Prime's squad is half-in-stasis-lock. He performs rally, rolls under a 10, so it's successful (rank is 10). He's facing a squad of Seekers (4) with Starscream in command. So they have 105 HP each. Now, the seekers are facing Prime, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, plus my friend's squad, which was in range. We roll for each of our weapons. If we roll under our skill, they hit. We choose which weapons we want - lasers, or missiles. A missile volley can hit all, but it can be struck down all at once, so that would be a gamble. Missiles are also limited, unless you've got Wheeljack, who can make new ones. Prime: ion blaster (d 6, a 5, r6) to Starscream Sideswipe: 3 missiles (d 6, a 6, r 7) to Seeker 1 Sunstreaker: 2 missiles to Seeker 2 Prowl: 2 missiles to seeker 3 Wheeljack: 4 Missiles to seeker 2 Ironhide: 3 missiles to seeker 4 Ratchet: 3 missiles to seeker 4 Ricochet: 1 missile to seeker 5 Hound: 3 missiles to seeker 5 so 9 autobots vs. 6 seekers. Let's roll for it. Prime hits Starscream with 16 plus roll of 5, 21 dmg Sideswipe hits Seeker 1 with 21 plus roll of 3, 24 dmg Sunstreaker/Wheeljack hit Seeker 2 for 25 and 31, plus roll 4, 60 dmg Prowl hits Seeker 3 for 16, plus roll 7 (critical=+10), 33 dmg Ironhide/Ratchet hit Seeker 4 with 6 missiles, 46, rolls of 6/8 for 60 dmg Hound/Ricochet hit Seeker 5 with 4 missiles, 27 and 11, roll 8/4 for 50 dmg Seekers counter with dodge (roll < speed for success): Starscream rolls 4, dodged. Seeker 1 rolls 8, hit; HP=105-24=81 Seeker 2 rolls 9, hit; HP=105-60=45 Seeker 3 rolls 7, dodged Seeker 4 rolls 10, hit; HP=45 Seeker 5 rolls 3, dodged Seekers attack (roll under FP to hit, = is critical): Starscream rolls 6, 4 missiles, 30 dmg to Prime; 150-30=120 Seeker 1 rolls 5, 2 missiles; 17 to Sideswipe, 105-17= 88 Seeker 2 rolls 7, 2 missiles; 21+10 critical to Sunstreaker, 90-31=59 Seeker 3 rolls 2, 2 missiles; 16 to Prowl, 115-16=99 Seeker 4 rolls 8, 2 missiles; miss Seeker 5 rolls 7, 2 missiles; 21+10 critical to Hound, 85-31=64 Do they dodge? Prime: 5, dodged Sideswipe: 7, critical dodge Sunstreaker: 9, hit (HP=59) Prowl: 8, hit (HP=99) Hound: 3; dodged
So how does alt mode factor in to these rules? Are there advantages and disadvantages? How would something like Blitzwing's jet divebomb/transform into tank maneuver work?
