Announcement of Power Rangers, GI Joe and Transformers role-playing games

Three new licensed role-playing games based on the Power Rangers, GI Joe and Transformers universes are on the way. Publisher Renegade Game Studios first announced these plans in September 2020. Now it’s said that they won’t use the same mechanics that power Dungeons & Dragons. Instead, the company has come up with its own d20-based system called Essence20. The development is led by designer Elisa Teague.

All three marks are used under license from Hasbro, which also owns D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast, Renegade said in a press release. Along with D&D, Wizards also offers an open source version of its ruleset, known as the 5th Edition Open Gaming License. Many other companies produce content based on the OGL and often market this content as compatible with D&D.

OGL recently made headlines as the basis for Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent, a new tabletop RPG setting from Warcraft and StarCraft co-creator Chris Metzen, which has grossed over 1,000,000. $2 million on Kickstarter in May.

“While we originally announced that these RPGs would use the 5th Edition Open Play License,” Renegade said, “during development it became clear that a custom system would allow fans to better take advantage of these RPGs. unique worlds.”

Essence20, says Renegade, will also use a 20-sided die. However, the base mechanic adds a second die to these rolls, ranging from d2 to d20, depending on a character’s skill rating. Players add the result of the two dice together, trying to top the difficulty rating of any challenge they encounter.

“Characters with a specialization in the skill being tested can roll their skill die and any dice below it,” says Renegade, “and choose the highest result to add to their d20 roll, increasing their chance of success! Additionally, a max value roll on ANY die is a critical hit, leading to more chance of critical hits and more opportunities for great roleplay incorporating them.

While Renegade gave no release window, the company has launched pre-orders for three new books. the GI Joe Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebookand Transformers Roleplay Core Rulebook cost $55 each.