Pen and Paper Rpg

[Optimus Prime Rib]

After about 16 years, I have started playing D&D again. Its quite fun. But I have always wanted a Transformers Rpg. I have enough knowledge (and friends with more) of the TF multiverse to be able to run quite a few campaigns sucessfully.

I have found a game, Mechamophosis, that is TF inspired. Joe Ng even did some of the art for it. I think I will take their system and use it with cybertronian history.

My questions are these:

What timeframe/continuity should I use? I am thinking WWDA (no prime/megs. Plenty of time to flesh out a character. Multiple factions)

Would anyone here be interested in helping me write the scenarios?
If so, I will post character details and story advancements after each session.

I have a great group to play with, and they are eager to learn TF lore.

Thanks for your help guys

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Trying to get started. Got 3 players so far.

[bumblemusprime]

I'm not much of a tabletop guy, but maybe MV...

[Best First]

Do you need D&D style knowledge to help write scenarios? If not keen to help

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Do you need D&D style knowledge to help write scenarios? If not keen to help

nope. Basically what I need is help creating the settings/encounters themselves. The D20 system is just for me to track stats honestly.

They seem to want to be a recon team. This leads to lots of fun possibilities...

Someone is ending up in the slag pit.

[Best First]

That's Smelting Pool to you Amerikan.

Ok, in.

Earth, Cybertron? Pre or post Ark?

Assume we are going G1 on this bitch?

What about an expedition to the Toxic Sludge Swamps to try and find out what happened to a lost Autobot regiment...? Seacons and bad swamp things ahoy

[Optimus Prime Rib]

That's Smelting Pool to you Amerikan.

Ok, in.

Earth, Cybertron? Pre or post Ark?

Assume we are going G1 on this bitch?

What about an expedition to the Toxic Sludge Swamps to try and find out what happened to a lost Autobot regiment...? Seacons and bad swamp things ahoy

Careful, we 'merkuns get uppity in July.

I think id like to start them in a WW:DA setting to start. That way there is room to develop characters and give them a real sense of why they are fighting, not just "because its what we've always done".
Once that set, I Really like the seacon idea.

[ruby_moon]

I am super stoked for this game. I'm up late doodling again and I've assembled the known team on a water color sheet and I'm hoping to build a model of Snapshot soon.

I can't wait to see what Julia builds, and are you SURE we can't time travel

As for building the system, I still think a d100 is the way to go. It gives more room for improvement in my opinion. We can take elements from Dark Heresy and Call of Cthulu. I like the leveling up in Cthulu better because instead of exp, you pick three skills that you used that week and the GM picks one. You roll D100 and if you beat your skill in it, then you improve that skill by 1D10.

Dark Heresy on the other hand is more here's exp and here are the skills and talents you buy in your tier.

I really think we can mash a system together, and stitch it where the edges meet. I've been building a character sheet based on this concept in the chaos I call a brain that I wanna show you once I get it on paper. I need to sit down with you rules wise and figure out what we want to use for transforming and damage.

I have a really cool idea going and I'll post it later after I get a clean ish draft of it on the computer.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Everyone, meet caroline

Caroline, meet everyone.
(Except Yaya.. don't meet yaya)

[Best First]

Hi Caroline.

Who's Julia by the way?

I reckon time travel is in by the way...

[ruby_moon]

Hello! I am still new in all of the Transformers lore etc, and it has captured me!

To keep everyone up to date, Joey and I met up and worked on the game mechanics a little bit, and I was hoping to see if I could get some of y'all to build a character so that we can work on how the leveling system works.

Your basic stats are your tech spec

Strength=STR
Intelligence=INT
Speed=SPD
Endurance=END
Courage=COU
Fire Power=FPW
Skill=SKL

At Rank 1 you have 25 points to "point buy" skills. The rules on the point buy are simple--you must put one point in each skill and no more than six. We'll call the skill points ranks. So each rank you buy into a skill costs points based on the number you already have in a skill. So ranks 1-3 in any particular skill cost 1 point, 4-5 cost 2 points and 6 costs 3.

Each tech spec skill determines various things you can do with your transformer.

• Strength
  Melee
  Lifting
  Climb
  Grapple

• Intelligence
  History
  Arcana
  Religion
  Perception
  Insight --> information and data processing

• Speed
  Transformation
  Focusing (on a particular target)
  Initiative
  Targeting
  Movement

• Endurance
  Armor Class
  Hit Points
  Energon --> useage -->reserves

• Courage
  Leadership
  "Luck"
  self sacrifice?
  foolhardy-nes

• Fire Power
  Ballistic skill
  Energon weapons and the usage rate. (So the lower you roll the less energon expended, and if fail you still spend the energon)

• Skill
  This category is all of the skills that either fit into multiple other tech specs or don't fit into any. This is going to be a list of things that everyone has the potential to do and you put career points into the skills that your character would use. It is converted into a percentage from the 1-10 of the tech spec and leveling for it is really rough right now, but I'll get back to that after it's a little smoother.
  Anyway, if you have 6 ranks in skill, you can spend points to be anywhere from 1-60% training in a skill. So lets use thievery. If I have 6 skill, I can spend career points to get upto 60% so I can have 43% or 52% to pick the lock.

Sorry for the long droning post, I would love input and lists of possible skills that Transformers should have (really broad I know, but we need to cast a broad net before we can polish down to what we want as the finished product.

I'm also working on a character sheet will look like etc.

EDIT:
Hi Bestfirst, Julia is another girl that wants to play but hasn't come up with what she wants to play yet.

[Best First]

i guess the key thing that's missing from the above would be whether skills/attributes apply equally regardless of your transformation mode or differ whether you are a robot or a vehicle/animal.

Ideally i think it would make sense if there were some common but some that varied by mode - firepower for example

Plus there are the various gimmicks that you can apply to transformers; Triple Changers, Headmasters, Target Masters, Pretenders etc

i guess these could be perks of some kind?

For transformation i think you need some classifications as well. Spitballing here but initial thoughts would be something like;

Land vehicle
- Scout (e.g Bumblebee)
- Interceptor (e.g Sideswipe)
- Utility vehicle (e.g Grapple)
- Transport (e.g Ironhide)
- Tank (e.g Warpath)

Air vehicle
- Recon (e.g Vortex)
- Seeker (e.g Statscream)
- Transport/Bomber (e.g Octane)
- Shuttle (e.g Blast off, Cosmos)

Sea vehicle
- Scout (e.g Seawatch)
- Cruiser (e.g.... er someone who turns into a medium size boat?)
- Carrier (e.g Broadside)

Hybrid vehicle
- Hovercraft (e.g Seaspray)

Land Beast
- scout (e.g Ravage)
- hunter (e.g Razorclaw)
- charger (e.g Ramhorn)

Air Beast
- scout (e.g. Laserbeak)
- Hunter (e.g. Swoop)

Sea Beast
- scout (e.g Nautliator)
- hunter (e.g jawbreaker)
- marauder (e.g snaptrap)
- big fish
- little fish
- Cardboard box

Hybrid Beast
???

It occurs to me that there is a lot more (or less) nuance you could add (e.g cassetts, comms guys, cities, leaders, gestalts etc) but you get the idea

[Optimus Prime Rib]

When I saw medium sized boat the only thing I could think of was Energon Mirage

Surely there's a G1 representative?
Anyone?

Regardless, your help has been amazing. Caroline was texting me at 4am with ideas. Its nice to see someone in their early 20s really interested in TF's.


If anyone else wants to pitch in, please by all means speak up :-)

[ruby_moon]

I'm still tossing ideas for the differences in modes.
I think Tech Specs will stay the same for the most part and it's just a matter of a bonus/weakness system, and I'll use my character Snapshot as an example.

Snapshot

Tech Spec
STR 1
INT 5
SPD 4
END 2
COU 2
FPR 1
SKL 5

Class: Air Recon
Skills
(the percentage I will roll against hasn't been determined yet, so I'll put xx/yy. xx is in robot form where yy is in vehicle form and there will be bonuses based on what class vehicle I will use a plus or minus on the yy side to show if it's a bonus or weakness.)

Strength
Melee xx/yy
Lifting xx/yy
Climb xx/-yy
Grapple xx/-yy

Intelligence
History xx/yy
Arcana xx/yy
Religion xx/yy
Perception xx/+yy (GM could allow for bonuses against the dc if airborn? or maybe this would be a flat plus in vehicle mode because I am flying?)
Insight --> information and data processing xx/yy

Speed
Transformation xx/yy
Focusing (on a particular target) xx/yy
Initiative xx/+yy
Targeting xx/+yy
Movement xx/+yy (you move faster flying than you do running right?)

Endurance
Armor Class xx/+yy (more compact=more layer of armor?)
Hit Points xx/yy
Energon --> useage -->reserves xx/yy (How different are the usage levels between main and alt modes?)

Courage
Leadership xx/yy
"Luck" xx/yy
self sacrifice?
foolhardy-ness xx/yy

Fire Power
Ballistic skill xx/-yy (that could be argued as a plus because of airborn)
Energon weapons and the usage rate xx/yy (again, what's the difference in usage between modes?)

And then we have our trained skills (I haven't made a list for this, but it's things like lock picking, intimidate, etc) Everyone can attempt skills (ones that aren't trained will have certain percentages based on how easy or hard they are, so while lock picking might have a base 10% something else like leadership might only have a base 01 because not everyone is cut out to command others.) So The differences would be more like you can't pick locks while you're a copter etc.

Combat is another interesting thing I'm working out right now.

We are looking three different specialties when we get down to it--melee, ranged, energon-enhanced.
Melee will be broken down into two sub categories.
Melee armed
Melee unarmed

Ranged is a little more complicated
"Short" Ranged Solid
"Short" Ranged Energy
"Long" Ranged Solid
"Long" Ranged Energy
Solid refers to bullets and other solid projectile ammo where Energy refers to things like blaster beams and laser guns.

Energon-Enhanced from what I understand (thanks to Joey) is 98%ish melee but it will have a different damage system and a different chart that determines how much energon is used etc. Energon-enhanced also covers abilities such as teleporting (failure rates and the such)

For combat, I will need help coming up with a list of weapons so I can figure out their damage.

Sorry again for the book-like post!

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Brain hurts

Figured out bonuses and penalties for everything.

Cardboard box is +10 everything.

[Legion]

When I saw medium sized boat the only thing I could think of was Energon Mirage

Surely there's a G1 representative?
Anyone?

Seaspray's a hover craft - might still be a bit small though.
Fairly sure one of Sixshot's modes was supposed to be a boat of some kind...

Um...

[Darth Aux]

When I saw medium sized boat the only thing I could think of was Energon Mirage

Surely there's a G1 representative?
Anyone?

Seaspray's a hover craft - might still be a bit small though.
Fairly sure one of Sixshot's modes was supposed to be a boat of some kind...

Um...

Quickswitch? Titanic-bot?

[ruby_moon]

So totally stayed out til 3:30 with a much simpler version of the system that Joey had in a stroke of car brilliance.
Every character is getting some solo time to adjust to the system, flesh out characters, and well get a little background into the transformers universe. Joey and I did that tonight with Snapshot, and (aside from being star struck (yaaaaaay Ratchet!) and totally sucked into the story etc) There is a consequence for every action made. I can't wait for more.
Combat is brutal but not too much so, and Joey's knowledge really plays into the open creativity that has to happen (ie scaling walls of things you shouldn't *ahem*)

He has the whole system worked out we just need to get it all out on paper. But so amazing. I'm giddy about it.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

couple of sessions in now. 8 hour long session last night where caroline and another player had to work together on a pre war conspiracy.

The trickiest part to me is deciding on what to bend and not bend when it comes to canon. Right now any and all decisions can affect future events.

For example, Snapshot (carolines character) may or may not have caused Orion Pax to lose faith in his fellow beings and go on to become Prime.

I am using a lot of current continuity because it is easier for my players to pick up and find any kind of references that they may need.

Really enjoying how they are fleshing out their characters:
Snapshot is a journalist who is constantly being upstaged by another reporter. I have managed to RP this well enough that Caroline genuinely becomes flustered when I engage her character with her "nemesis".

Rave (my roomate Sarah's character) is a lab assistant to Wheeljack who started the game not sure what was going on, except for the fact that she had shredded all of the walls to the lab to expose all of the fiber optic cables... and apparently caused his lab to almost implode.

She has a collection of magnets that she has named. Some she has modified to put tracking devices on them. She also has an obsession with flashy lights to the point of not being able to function. She literally has to roll a save to be able to power down because she is afraid of the dark.

its been kind of awesome.

[ruby_moon]

We created the wreckers tonight. (well Rave (Sarah) and Monkii(Anthony) (of course that's his name...)did.)
To give a report of what is going on (and flesh it out a bit)
Rave and Snapshot met in Kaon. After trying to out drink a Dynobot, Snapshot is kicked awake by a small Cybertronian named Rave (more of a hey we gotta go.) I secure an interview with Stranglehold and then with Grimlock after he wins the big fight with Megatron. I plug in and power down for the night.
A killing spree and four city blocks later, we are whisked away by Jazz and Cliffjumper, I find out all thirty or so people are just damaged, and we can either help them or the video feed of me damaging people will be getting out. Oh yeah, I have a dirty Insecticon parasite that made me go crazy and try and kill everyone and Snapshot really thinks she's crazy. Cliff and Jazz sent us to the arena because they need to hear Megatron's speech to the contestants. We successfully sneak in and transmit the feed (except that Soundwave catches on that something isn't right)
After transmitting, I come back for the press meeting with a live broadcast. Soundwave thinks that the disturbance earlier (Rave the first time) was me and there was only me. He kicks me up to Megatrons feet between him and Grimlock with an "I'll explain later" and a quick mind control to make the people think I've volunteered to fight in the pit.
After a brave rescue Rave, and an intervention by Cliff and Jazz and some others we are transported back to Iacon for debriefing, I come back to reality speaking with a nice psychiatrist so fondly nicknamed Doc Eyebrows. The building we are in is attacked.
We go and speak with Wheeljack and his lab is trashed bad. Certain magnets are stolen and we follow them to the slag pits outside of Iacon.
I am built around getting information and sneaking. I climb the building we find that the magnets are in and drill a hole through a door and peak down into the barrel of a gun. Everything goes black.
I wake up and can't see, but I feel an intense heat. After some time fighting is brought my way (in the mean time Rave and Monkii are forming the wreckers at a body shop--that's a fun story. They asked nicely then Monkii went in and called them "Pansy Little Bitches" and after not killing my partners, Our tow truck friend and light array "Wreck and Rule")
I hear people eventually and screams and sloshes, I still can't see. I'm weak. I finally can focus on some of the talking, I hear a familiar voice mention that I have chosen to do the right thing finally. (I don't realize it's Pax, but later I figure it out) Sentinel Prime is killed by Megatron (whose voice strikes the deepest of fears in me after the Kaon incident.)
Rave and Monkii come in after a little more time passes and after stabilizing my systems, we are freed and out of the tower where we ended tonight.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share from a player's perspective. I also needed to dump as much of the story into text--I'm working on a wiki or something to keep track of it all.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Yeah. I realize its nowhere near canon and a LOT of name dropping, but its easier to introduce people into the game if you give them a lot of things they might recognize early on.

Still need ideas for NPCs and scenarios.

[bazinga11]

Hi all! I'm Sarah, one of the players in this game. My character, Rave, has the magnet collection and obsession with lights. While I have little knowledge of Transformers, I've played a lot of RPGs and can honestly say I've never had more fun in a campaign.

Someone is ending up in the slag pit.

That was terrifying and heartbreaking.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Good times are had by all so far. We have the stat system working correctly now. 5 players (capping at 5). The group has all undergone the Rite of the Autobrand "Eugenesis" style.

Completely borked canon now, but hey, its just a game right? And how many continuities have we seen crop up over the years?

The group has a definitive leader, 1 surgeon, 1 combat medic/heavy hitter, 1 scout, and theoretician (and without ANY previous knowledge of transformers, has managed to make herself into the image of Skids in Mtmte).

I am trying to think of a title for this game other than "Transformers RPG".
Really need your help guys. You can PM me ideas on here or FB if you want to help but don't want the players having prior knowledge.
What was our main complaint about Wfc and FOC? Not GTA style of sandboxiness.
This is total freedom to do what you want. We can quite litrally change the course of cybertronian history with this game.

Your expertise and writing skills are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Joey

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Holy crap the games getting intense guys. Weve started a a second group that rivals thw first.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Holy crap the games getting intense guys. Weve started a a second group that rivals thw first.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

Got the group back together tnight minus one player. His character was sacrificed to save others. Went on to wipe out 90% of all known autobots to the point that wheeljack is now "Prime".
The only chance for survival? Time travel. Good thing they met a nice man from the planet gallifrey. Now they just have to help him borrow a ship.

Yes. I went there.

I managed to have my party in tears at one point tonight. They get into their characters so much. I love it.

[Sunyavadin]

Lately I've been discussing a P&P TF RPG with friends in the pub. And by "friends" I largely mean my girlfriend. And by "discussing" I mean "Rambling incoherently after several cocktail pitchers".

I was looking at running with the system from the old Cyberpunk 2020 books I have lying around as it's a very short step to adapt the rules for full body conversions from that to represent a race of machines, capable of upgrading and reconfiguring themselves in a variety of ways while still retaining game balance.

[Optimus Prime Rib]

April 20-21

Shits going down.

Going to set up a marathon session to get the universe rebooted/obliterated. Going to depend on choices made.

I hate that it's so long between our games, but we definitely make up for quantity of games with quality.