I think I saw somebody mention Transformers in one of the threads. Now that the game is out, what do you think would be good ways to handle the setting?
For me, obviously you don't want to play as anything other than Transformers, so scaling issues aren't a big deal. Handling the transformation mechanic, though, is a good place to start.
My opinion only:
Good place to look will be the Starship Engineering Rules that will be coming out in the Engineers book for Age of Rebellion. PCs start with a chassis of a certain amount and can spend starting XP to get additional equipment, chassis improvement, etc. The vehicle description could totally be done narratively.
I love this idea. I might use this as my example in the Podcast!
Edited by GM HoolyI've been stewing on this and a Voltron idea for some time. I think that you could totally do this without needing to go too far into "self modification" right away.
Transformers covers a lot these days, what were you thinking of? G1? comics?
I guess I am not sure what to give input on...
I would take care to have each character have different "driving" ability, have talents like "fast transformation" and lots of different vehicles.
Also! Listen to all the vehicle episodes of the Order 66 podcast!
I've been working on a setting for Transformers. I've done the most work on how I think abilities should change and how Alt Modes should work. Here's my working draft. Clearly some of it is just placeholder, and I've started ideas for talents. I'd love to hear feedback and ideas for this!
In case anyone else is interested in this, I've come up with some Archtypes (finally). I'd be interested in thoughts and suggestions on them.
I'll have to take a look at this, I've been wanting to do G1 transformers to add to my Real American Heroes setting
I would be happy to collaborate! I put a slightly updated pdf up (first link).
I immediately think about needing to change the combat rules, since Transformers are all planetary scale. Should RAH PCs engage in combat with a Transformers character, it's like a one hit KO, and you know some PC is going to jump onto a 'bot or otherwise engage without a vehicle of their own...experience with Star Wars tells me this (and that it's a bad idea to climb an AT-ST).
The CRB p. 109 specifies that combat difficulty checks increase with a difference of 2 silhouette. Since the average Transformer character is probably sil 2, that means no increase in difficulty, which doesn't sound good, since their damage is so much higher. I didn't see any additional rules in the vehicles section.
I wonder about an inherent "transformers aren't used to fighting small organic things, add two setback" or maybe a talent for RAH characters. Thoughts?
You could change the planetary to personal scale from 10:1 to 5:1. You could also just make a rule that planetary to personal scale attacks afford the increased difficulty, and potentially even increase the difficulty beyond one. Or even increase and upgrade the check to make it dangerous to try and attack small targets.
I'd actually say quite a few Transformers are silhouette 3 or larger. RC/Jazz/Bumblebee/HotRod/most commercial automobiles would be an example of silhouette 2; while Prime/UltraMagnus/Rodimus/Starscream and other jets would be silhouette 3; Dinobots might be between 3 and 4. Of course, I'm basing this on vehicle form, tho transformers have a funny way of changing mass (soundwave, megatron), I think that is possibly the best rule of thumb to go by at first glance. Soundwave and megatron i'd soundly put at sil 3.
As for combat, noted is the sil difference, which should handle most issues. I'd personally treat most transformer weapons as high damage personal scale weapons comparable to the LMGs or higher in my RAH setting, or perhaps having breach 1 for some of the worst weapons.
I'd build them as hybrid stat blocks, having Br, Ag, Int, Cun, Wil, Pr, but then have Hull and System Strain and Armor of 1 or 2 max instead of wounds, normal strain and soak. Conventional human weapons aren't really going to do much unless they have breach 1 or can roll high enough to get 10 damage, but that is fine, these are giant metal robots, you need heavier human weapons: LMGs, C4, Rocket Launchers, etc.
A group of RAH humans could team up and take down 1, maybe 2 transformers with good planning, but a group of transformers... you're better off laying traps and having transformers of your own on your side.
20 hours ago, Jimmifett said:I'd actually say quite a few Transformers are silhouette 3 or larger. RC/Jazz/Bumblebee/HotRod/most commercial automobiles would be an example of silhouette 2; while Prime/UltraMagnus/Rodimus/Starscream and other jets would be silhouette 3; Dinobots might be between 3 and 4. Of course, I'm basing this on vehicle form, tho transformers have a funny way of changing mass (soundwave, megatron), I think that is possibly the best rule of thumb to go by at first glance. Soundwave and megatron i'd soundly put at sil 3.
As for combat, noted is the sil difference, which should handle most issues. I'd personally treat most transformer weapons as high damage personal scale weapons comparable to the LMGs or higher in my RAH setting, or perhaps having breach 1 for some of the worst weapons.
I'd build them as hybrid stat blocks, having Br, Ag, Int, Cun, Wil, Pr, but then have Hull and System Strain and Armor of 1 or 2 max instead of wounds, normal strain and soak. Conventional human weapons aren't really going to do much unless they have breach 1 or can roll high enough to get 10 damage, but that is fine, these are giant metal robots, you need heavier human weapons: LMGs, C4, Rocket Launchers, etc.
A group of RAH humans could team up and take down 1, maybe 2 transformers with good planning, but a group of transformers... you're better off laying traps and having transformers of your own on your side.
You make a good point about the prevalence of sil 3+ characters. I was thinking mainly of the sorts of Autobot you mentioned When considering this before. My thinking for stats otherwise is very close to your comments.