Anyone knows about any Transformers RPGs?

My kid has discovered transformers couple months ago, so now we have toys, mobile games, movies, cartoons...  but he is also designing his own transformers.  He's coming up with names, powers, what they transform into, power-levels, assigning them to factions...  Basically RPG character creation in all but name.

I am helping him along, but I pretty much make things up as I go... I stopped by the RPG store and checked http://www.drivethrurpg.com but haven't really find anything.

So if anyone knows of any Transformer Rulesets or Source books, I would greatly appreciate if you can point me in the right direction.
This message was last updated by a moderator, as it was the wrong forum, at 19:29, Fri 25 Aug 2017.

There is an excellent version of the Transformers RPG made by one James Kerr rather than post a direct link to it, as that is often frowned upon I suspect you can find it fairly easily by searching for it.

Found it thanks, that's not much but a lot more than what I found so far.

I haven't actually read or played it, but I heard good things about Cartoon Action Hour.

http://www.spectrum-games.com/cartoon-action-hour.html

I was toying with the idea of a Transformers RPG full system conversion of Torchbearers, but it centers on surviving the post-apocalyptic wasteland of a post-shutdown Cybertron, so, y'know, limited appeal.

There was a guy who made a Beast Wars game using the old World of Darkness rules that I have had the oppurtunity to play once.  The campaign lasted about three sessions, but that was more because of the GM than the system.  It actually worked rather well.  I have the rules downloaded at home, but it can be found with Google.

I've got several. Not sure if I'm allowed to link them, but I think they're all free downloads. At the very least, I can provide their names so they can be found.

Transformers RPG (No Frills Version) - Dunno who wrote it, dunno what the "frills" version would be. It's on Scribd, so hopefully it's okay to download.

I've got that James Kerr version, but it's already mentioned so I don't think it'll be helpful here.

Transformers FUDGE RPG - This one is a build of the old FUDGE system, as you might guess from the name.

Transformers RPG by Louis Hoefer - This is a game for people who are super into crunch. There's division involving decimals as a regular occurrence, pages-long equipment lists, very detailed point-based character creation. It's 300 pages across two books, and comes with a high resolution GM screen and instructions for printing it and setting it up.

Does that help? And am I allowed to post links to them, considering they're all fanworks?

You can also Google /tg/ Transformers Thread: F***ed Scale Edition (yeah, there's a dirty word in there). It's got a heck-ton of different Transformers RPG rulebooks. Good luck!
This message was last edited by the user at 18:50, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

How old is your kid? There's great systems out there, but some are more age-appropriate than others.

7 years old.

I am not too concerned about game mechanics, character creation and source material is what I am looking for.

The gameplay at this point is more likely to involve swinging arms and legs in the air while making transformer noises (with occasional pew-pew thrown in), than dice rolls.

My eight-year (in one month) old asked me to teach him DnD.LOL

;) I don't believe math is a problem for the kids at this age, in fact dice rolling is rather popular it seems (with a lot of fudging and open cheating of course).  It's just seems that there is a demand for physical, live action component and high pace gameplay.

You might be looking more for a LARP system (Live Action Role Playing). This allows for swinging of arms, sound effects, and an occasional mechanic (like rock-paper-scissors if you can't agree on an outcome, or a few statistics so whichever character has the highest number wins that action). I'm not familiar with any such systems, but they might be better suited to you and your son.

Like I said I am not really looking for a system, I am looking for source material really.

I do not wish to sound ungrateful. I appreciate all the advice and suggestions.  And it does give me a lot of materials to work with.

But the system is not the issue, I can easily come up with something appropriate homebrewed or adjust one of the popular systems.  That includes LARP (I didn't say "live action component" by accident ;) )

I am looking for source material and while there is plenty of transformer wikis I could and do use these usually lack information that is often found in RPGs

For instance:

• Comparative power levels.  Who is more powerful Jetfire or Starscream? (questions like that are extremely important to 7 years old boy)
• How often can transformer scan a new form and how many forms can he keep stored?  Does it changes with bot type or level?
• Is bot locked in to a specific type to transform to.  If a bot transformers into race car, can he later scan a helicopter and transform into that?
• Is there list of abilities the kid can pick and choose from?  Built-in rail gun? Seismic Scan?  EMP? Camouflage? How many can I pick?
• How do I decide if bot can be used to form a combiner?  How do I decide if the bot best suited to be an arm or a leg for instance?

And yes I can and do answer all those right now, basically making it up as I go... a source material to help me would have been great though.

In reply to wolandd (msg # 14):

Honestly, I think you're better off making stuff up. That's basically all the screenwriters do: give the character an awesome ability whenever they feel like it, pretty much regardless of any published material. Now, that ticks a lot of people off who have really invested in that material, so it's an iffy approach for someone with a wide audience, but for two people playing a game it works fine.

Think in generalities: this one is a weapons expert, this one is a brawler, this one is a backstabber, this one is sneaky. These will each have different tactics and abilities, some of which might come out of nowhere in surprising ways. We're talking about robots who can reconfigure themselves in an essentially limitless number of ways.

And don't just come up with these things yourself. Engage the player and ask them what happens, even if you could come up with it yourself. I used to do Transformers roleplaying - it was called "playing with my toys." I came up with the abilities they had, according (mostly) to what I thought sounded fun.

A common response I get to that kind of advice is that the person making the thing up doesn't get the same enjoyment as being informed by someone else making it up. It's not the same enjoyment, no, but it can be and is very enjoyable to collaborate on ideas and see one's ideas used and built on.

Wolandd, with that in mind, I suggest downloading and taking a good look at the Louis Hoefer game I mentioned. It has detailed character creation, naturally using the Tech Specs from the figures, and goes into those things you were asking about. There are equipment lists, explanations of how Soundwave can be both a boom box and a 50 foot tall killer robot with multiple smaller giant killer robots inside his chest (cybertronium is crazy stuff, and they use it as skin!). Lots of good stuff there.

Also you could look at the Transformers Wiki. But keep in mind that they do not take things seriously there, even if all the information is correct. They even do a nice job of conveying which continuity any given piece of information refers to.

I second engine's comments above. If the system isn't the issue, then approach the game with a different mindset. Rather than looking at who's more powerful then whom, look at the roll they play. In a fair fight, Optimus Prime and Megatron are going to be the most powerful, because they're the leaders. Scourge has been described on one site as "A temperamental, duplicitous moron, Scourge is, at best, a bumbling goon and, at worst, an incompetently treacherous stooge," so could fit the roll of the bad guy who talks a lot but is easily hoisted on his own petard in the end.

Decide their rolls within the group (Medic, Leader, Muscle, Brains, etc.) and run with that.

Google lists lots of sites ranking the best and worst Transformers and the same for Decepticons, and also include which version is being discussed.

For that style of play, if you do actually want to chuck some dice, you might consider Risus.  For when the pizza is cold and the juice box is empty.