That all makes me Optimustic! ...see what I did there?

 

Tell me you've never played a ttrpg without saying it outright.

 

eggsactly! sounds like he's thinking of boardgames or warhammer or something other than ttrpgs

hmm i just searched "rpg" to see what came up and wasnt expecting there to be anything current. i wouldnt mind looking thru the rulebook to see how the system works

 

I got the pdf awhile back and it's been fun going through the book. I actually made a triple-changer Modemaster with both a vehicle and beast mode. (Tank and Dragon)

For anyone curious you CAN play as a Decepticon cause there's a fillable option for that but each role assumes your an Autobot which comes with a set of perks called "For The Allspark!" though I would apply that for everyone regardless of faction. Also there is a sidebar about beast modes and they say if you want a beast mode you totally can and use that for your origin alternate mode or modify the movement if you want but say they plan to make future rulebooks expanding on beast modes and I'll bet that Beast Wars will be the first to get a sourcebook but no there's nothing in the rules stopping you from making a Maximal or Predacon.

A criticism I have is this game can be VERY punishing if you don't at least have a D2 in some skills. I've had to make alot of unskilled skill rolls which is that you have to roll 2 d20s and take the lowest result of the two so if you rolled a 19 and 4 well you gotta take the 4. Also the things about hardpoints could be better explained. It drove me crazy trying to figure it out.

 

So, who are the characters described in the book?

 

What do you mean? You mean pre-existing characters? Cause there's a section dedicated to describing all the various Autobots like Optimus, Windblade, Bulkhead, Ultra Magnus, Blur, etc so a good selection of bots both well-known and obscure.

There's also a section dedicated to Decepticon threats with all the classics. Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Shockwave, but also some new faces like Knock Out, Breakdown, and Barricade.

 

So who is described in the Autobot Data Files?

 

Whirl, Rung, Anode, Lug, Brainstorm, Swerve, Nautica, Nightbeat, Rewind, Chromedome… a whole bunch of characters.

Actually, I’ve noticed a healthy amount of IDW 1.0 in this book. A lot of the artwork is pulled straight from it and a fair amount of the Autobots mentioned are taken straight from MTMTE/LL’s cast. Other Autobots include Bulkhead, Windblade, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Optimus, Arcee, Prowl, Grimlock, your standard affair. They’re all quick blurbs on the characters, about a paragraph in length.

Actually, even Rubble from IDW 2.0 made it into the Data Files which is interesting as he didn’t live long enough to make it into a faction.

 

After spending 3 hours creating characters for a group of 4 and going over the rules with a tutorial on combat and non-combat, I could get through 2 hours of gaming before stopping due to the late hour.


Impressions from the player group.

Pros
Combat - Straightforward that relies on GM adjudication without the need for rules.
Influences - Adds depth to roleplaying that will benefit the character at creation and supports growth in levels with the ability to select additional influences and hangups.
Story Points - Helps with adding color and texture to an encounter.
Energon Points - same as above. Players especially enjoyed this aspect of the game as I had an enemy that hunted for non-pc Cybertroians with high essence scores that had large pools of Energon, so as first-level characters, the players were sent in to capture or shutdown the threat as they don't have a high enough Energon pool yet to be seen as food and therefor won't be attacked.

Cons
Combat - Straightforward that relies on GM adjudication without the need for rules. ( I know it's listed in pros, but not everyone agreed this was a good thing.)
Origins - This should be flushed out more regarding Titan-sized robots or combiners. (Group wanted to play a combiner team.)
Movement - No rules regarding the increasing base movement in the Alt mode. Example: Champion origin has a ground movement of 60ft, but a player wants to increase it beyond that speed regardless of the Alt mode type. aka Blur or Wheeljack
Special Abilities - No rules for special abilities. Example: Teleportation, invisibility, and holograms.
Weapons and Equipment - Weapon types and rules seemed lacking.


These impressions will most likely change as we haven't even got through act 2 of the adventure.

 

My favorite inclusion was clearly all as a fan nod: Erector.

 

I agree with the points above.
It's simple. Too simple at times.

In my opinion this comes from a functionally simple core, but the additional material is not complete enough to add effective nuance, or impact.

Transformers had a very OHOTMU* flavor in that even the shortest tech-spec mentioned some flavor text like "Acid Pellet Rifle" or "Cerebro Shells-shells". The original fluff was written by Marvel staff, so this not a surprise.

The game needs that bit of crunch. An "Inferno Cannon" should do something different than a "Blaster".

It's not a bad product. With some tuning and supplements it will be a serviceable option for a pick up game and/or campaign.

*Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe

 

I do agree with you a bit. It can feel like a bit was sacrificed in order to make playing with all the books possible but I feel the core rulebook alone gives you enough to work with and while you'll have to be creative when working outside what the book assumes (that being you're an Autobot) It's not THAT limiting. It's certainly more free in terms of character creation than in Power Rangers where your character no matter HOW much you try to differentiate them will ALWAYS be slotted in the mold of the original MMPR team. Red being the elader, Blue being the smart one, Pink the ranged one, Green the loner when that's not always the dynamic with teams afterwards.

 

We finished our first adventure, and the group enjoyed the setting, which I based on the G1 Cartoon continuity during the late 80s.

Group was successfully uncovering who was behind the Energon Vampire and loved how the adventure was resolved. Very classic 80s cartoon kind of way.

Group make up
Heavyburner - Experiment (Monolith) Modemaster-Triplechanger Spaceshuttle/Kenworth Semi-truck
Backfdive - Experiment (Champion) Modemaster-Triplechanger Camaro IROC-Z/Bayliner Bowrider
Sidewire - Racer (Champion) Analyst-SpecOps Ferrari 288
Backscraps - Scanvenger (Lookout) Scout-Prowler Ford RS200

Post Game Impressions (Includes the initial impressions I posted above) -

Pros
Snag and Edge skill roles
Dice shift

Cons
Targeting should be standalone essence score called Fireblast/Firepower. They feel this could lend to expanding the unique weapons one can wield like Clifjumpers glass gun or null rays of Starscream.

 

Fair warning to people who may not notice:

In spite of the site offering a bunch of little flag bubble buttons to represent various international versions of the website (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Europe) only the UK and Europe ones are distinct sites with distinct currency listings. The US/Can/Aus/NZ all take you to the same, essentially American, version of the site and all prices are listed in USD.

This was the confusing sticking point for me since those four countries are pretty much the four biggest in the world that all use their own iteration of of the dollar as their currency. The site makes no clarification that it's using $USD so someone who clicks the Canadian button might believe that they're being charged Canadian dollars and then get a shock when their credit card statement arrives and the $55-listed book actually cost them like $70 Canadian because it was $55 USD.

I found this out by e-mailing their customer service to ask for clarification on Sunday and got a response today, by which time it appears like the limited-edition physical book edition has sold out as there is no longer a pre-order button for it. So even if I wanted to spend $70 on it, I can't now because it took too long for them to get back to me  

 

I received word that the physical books are preparing to ship within the next few weeks.

 

The physical book has arrived!

 

That looks so good. I can't wait for mine to show up.

 

My standard hardcopy showed up today. Looks decent, but very basic. I'm hopeful this does well enough to warrant a few expansions. I think that'll do it a lot of good.

 

Do you mean playing as a Decepticon with a team of Autobots? Or as a team of Decepticons? Or ORRR, either way works?

 

Most core rule books are fairly basic. Settings and campaign books tend to fill that out.

Do hope this does well enough to make those happen