[Actual Play] "Transformers: From Peripheral to Pivotal" RPG

[wyze2099]

Last year, a couple of friends and I engaged in a homebrewed Transformers RPG. It was of the tabletop, pencil-and-paper variety commonly associated with games like Dungeons & Dragons. To my knowledge an official rulebook for a Transformers RPG doesn't exist, so I had to improvise.

 

The Actual Play thread -- in which I summarize each game sessions with a bit of discussion about the game mechanics -- is posted at RPG.Net. I'm including an excerpt from the first post here:

 

 

 

The setting was present-day Earth, in our own little pocket continuity that drew elements from the various TF continuities. From the IDW comics I ported over the idea that the Decepticons had spread out to other worlds after Cybertron's resources had been exhausted, and that the Autobots had split into small squads to combat the Decepticons' three-stage plan of Infiltration, Escalation, and Devastation. The player characters happened to be the under-staffed, under-resourced squad stationed on Earth. From Generation One I derived most of the characters, and especially their stats. Some of the characters who eventually show up might just be from the movie and Animated continuities.

 

The other player's character was Burnout, a former Decepticon whose alt mode is a muscle car. I played Redhot, a smartass scout with a motorcycle alt mode. We assumed there were other Autobots on the Earth squad, but in order to explain their absence I established the team'd just had a massive skirmish with the Decepticon squad (aka the Stunticons), and the rest of the Autobots were currently either badly damaged or destroyed. In fact, the two highest-ranking Autobots on the squad had been the ones who were destroyed, leaving Burnout the former Decepticon as the reluctant leader by way of battlefield promotion. He wasn't particularly ecstatic about that; in fact, only Redhot was delighted by the news because it meant he himself wouldn't have to lead.

 

Once the rest of the surviving team was put into regeneration chambers (capsules containing nanomachines capable of restoring a Transformer's body to a given set of specifications), Burnout's first order of business as squad leader was to get on the commlink with Autobot Command to request reinforcements.

 

The Autobot on the other end of the commlink turned out to be Bluestreak. He's known to Generation 1 Transformers fans for undergoing a name change to Silverstreak when Hasbro lost the rights to that name, and more importantly for being a chatterbox who just. Won't. Shut. Up. An irritated Burnout had difficulty getting a word in edgewise, and just as he was starting to make some progress on getting Bluestreak to focus on his request, Bluestreak suddenly panicked. "Slag! Red alert's giving me a dirty look. Must've been on here too long. Gotta go! Bye!" *click*

 

Redhot's response? "And you wonder why we get lousy service out here in the boonies."

 

After repairing our minor injuries in the regen chamber, I provided the Autobots with a mission based on the following technical detail I completely made up: Transformers' bodies are powered by different means than the combustion engines on Earth. As a result, their body temperatures are friggin' nuclear compared to Earth vehicles, and they'd show up on thermal scans easily. But the Autobots and Decepticons possess this piece of technology called a heat suppressor, which masks their heat signature to make it seem like a regular Earth vehicle's. In the battle with the Stunticons, Redhot managed to damage Dead End's heat suppressor, which means he'd show up on thermal scans. So the two active Autobots decide to track down that heat signature in the vague hope it'll lead them to Dead End and the other Stunticons.

 

Soon their search takes them to a six-story parking garage. As the Scout, Redhot volunteers to search the garage level by level, transmitting his various sensor readings to Burnout to keep the leader informed. Luckily, these Transfomers have holomatter technology allowing them to project holographic illusions of their drivers so no one notices a riderless bike (other than the fact that it's a crotch rocket with red-and-gold flame designs and the rider's helmet and leathers match). Dead End is spotted on the fifth level, parked in vehicle mode whilst his holomatter avatar (fittingly looking like a stereotypical emo guy with pale skin and black clothes to match his hair, with bangs combed over to hide part of his face) is in negotiations with some salesman. That salesman -- possibly an arms dealer -- hands Dead End's holomatter an armored briefcase. Redhot circles the lot, pretending to look for a parking space whilst he eavesdrops.

 

Before he can learn anything, Dead End recognizes him, and the chase is on. Redhot races back to the ground level with Dead End right on his tail. Burnout follows them out onto a highway, and a high-speed chase ensues at well over 100 mph.

 

As they weave through traffic, Bluestreak picks that moment to contact Burnout. He helpfully updates Burnout on the situation: he's currently searching available Autobot candidates who could be transferred to Earth, but so far there's no one definite. Leave it to Bluestreak to be at his most helpful (that is to say, not very) when no one's actively seeking out his help. Burnout, needless to say, is in no mood for this, because he's busy trying to weave around slower-moving vehicles in an effort to catch up with Dead End and Redhot. During the conversation, Bluestreak gets an earful of colorful curses and insults -- some aimed at him, some at other motorists, including the driver of an eighteen-wheeler.

 

Burnout reaches Dead End and unveils his fold-out plasma flamethrower. The Decepticon gets scorched a bit, which upsets him; as much as he has a death-wish, he wants to meet his maker in perfect condition. So naturally, he decides he has nothing left to lose and slams on his brakes. This is a problem for Burnout, who was right behind him and had to make a high Skill roll in order to swerve around Dead End. He succeeds, though paint is traded and sparks fly as the two scrape together.

 

So now, Redhot and Burnout are in the lead, with Dead End having come to a complete stop. This turns out to be a colossally bad idea on a highway. Remember the eighteen-wheeler whose driver Burnout swore at earlier? It ends up rear-ending the living crap out of Dead End, leaving him with barely any Health Points left. Also, he now looks like he'd participated in Road Rage mode in the "Burnout 3: Takedown" video game. The eighteen-wheeler pushes him forward for a few moments, and Dead End reluctantly drives away under his own power, taking a the nearest off-ramp to head back to the Decepticon base for repairs. And his heat suppressor is now well and truly obliterated, so he's lit up like a beacon to the Autobot's thermal scans, making him even easier to track.

 

We came to a stopping point there. The other player had to go home soon, which was why I'd elected to end the chase sequence on a note of such comprehensive ownage. He really enjoyed the way I described the damage done to Dead End, and he especially loved that I made the big rig that hit him the same one whose driver Burnout had insulted. But that was because the player had asked whether or not it was the same one, so I was all, "yeah, sure! That'd be awesome!"

 

I have to say I was impressed by that player. This was his first experience playing a pen&paper RPG, but given how quickly he picked it all up, I could've sworn he roleplayed regularly. I interpret that as a positive review of how quick and easy the game is to learn, and I interpret the fact that he's been talking about the game almost nonstop ever since as another good sign. Means I'm doing something right.

 

So ... thoughts on the RPG? Again, more information about it can be found at the thread on RPG.Net.

 

And I apologize if I've posted this in the wrong section; I couldn't find one for Transformers tabletop roleplaying, and I figured that this is an unfolding fan-made Transformers story, so Fan Fiction seemed like the closest fit.

[wyze2099]

So, just for fun I made some motivational posters describing the TF RPG's character classes, accompanied by images from the War for Cybertron video game.

 

Click here.

 

Further proof that I am a colossal geek.

 

 

[wyze2099]

Just posted Session Six: "Say Hello to My Little Friend" at RPG.Net. Enjoy!