Character Creation: Transformers

Autobots, rock, rock on! No, hang on, that's Cheat Commandos. 

The Game: Transformers RPG
The Publisher: Renegade Games Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Gen 1 for life, baby, but I've never played it
Books Required: Just the one

Transformers is one of several licensed games by Renegade (others include G.I. Joe and Power Rangers). I read it not quite knowing what to expect. Licensed games are hit or miss, they're often designed with too much non-gamer input, and they don't always evoke the feeling of the property they're based on. 

I don't know if Transformers would feel like an episode of the show at the table, but the book is certainly created with some love for that show. I used to watch Gen 1 when I was a kid, and I saw Transformers: The Movie in theaters in 1986. It was never my favorite - I was more into Masters of the Universe - but I definitely enjoyed the show and I had a bunch of the toys. I did find myself wondering if I could do a good enough Peter Cullen impression to run the game and do Prime justice, so that speaks well of it.

So let's make a robot! (I will never not see and pronounce that word as /robət/, the way Zoidberg says it.)

Well, I have no GM or other players, so moving trippingly along to #1: Character Concept. Trying to think of an Alt-Mode for an Autobot that hasn't already been done is a fool's errand, so let's just consider what I think would be cool. I was thinking about a cement mixer; I know there have been a couple canonically (one of the Constructicons, and then I guess there was an Autobot named Quickmix, but I didn't know that until I looked it up). 

So let's say my Autobot is a big, heavy, somewhat simple guy named Tumbler. Tumbler's Alt-Mod is a cement mixer truck, while his Bot-Mode has the barrel slide around to form his right arm, making it a weapon or shield. Tumbler, like I said, isn't the cleverest of bots - he's not, like, Grimlock levels of inarticulate, but thinks and speaks slowly. He's always concerned for humans and how they're so squishy but they've made their world so hard and rock-like - it doesn't make a lot of sense?

OK, I think that's good enough for concept. Essence Scores! There are four of them: Strength, Speed, Smarts, and Social (guess we couldn't think of a characteristic in noun form that started with "S", huh?). I get 12 points to split up now, and then I'll get more from later steps. 

Well, I think we'll start with 7 in Strength, 1 in Speed, 1 in Smarts, and 3 in Social, and see how things shake out as we add things.

Skills are categorized by Essences, and I get points equal to said Essence, so I think I'll wait until my Essence scores are finalized before I pick my Skills. 

Influences! These are careers, hobbies, passions, lifepath-y kinds of things. I have to have one, and I can pick up to three, but any I pick beyond the first gives me a Hang-Up (basically a flaw). There's a list, let's check it out.

Well, I don't love a lot of these for Tumbler, but I think I'll go with Security and say that Tumbler was originally designed to be a brick, something between the bad stuff and squishier robots. I get the Perk, which allows me to take a Move Action and roll a Skill Test when Surprised (contextually, I think I get it and that's cool). I don't get a Hang-Up for this, since it's my first one. I do, however, get a Background Bond, which is basically just a memory or personality quirk from my time as [Influence]. I could roll a d12 or pick one off the list, let's see. One of them is "My body will always be a shield to protect the innocent," and while Tumbler might say "squishy" instead of "innocent," I think that works.

Now, do I wish to have a second (or even third) Influence? Nah, I don't love any of the others. Machinist kind of appeals, but I think it's a little too precise for Tumbler, and I don't wish to go dark by picking War Veteran or something. Moving on!

Select an Origin! Origin determines my Alt-Mode and sets a bunch of other mechanical stuff. 

Well, Tumbler is pretty obvious a Monolith (like Optimus Prime, actually). That increases my Strength by 1 (to 8), gives me a bump in either Might or Brawn Skills (what's the difference? I'll have to look that up), starts my Health at 4, and lets me speak Cybertronian, an Adopted Earth Language (let's just say English), and one more for every three points of Smarts (lol). 

Hrm. There's a section on the sheet for Alt-Mode (Modes, really), but nothing for Bot Mode. Presumably that'd be on the first sheet, and there's a lot for Movement, but not Size. GUYS. 

Well, anyway, I'm Large & In Charge, so I get to pick a Social Skill and I get a dice bump (this game uses die size to indicate Skill progression) when I'm dealing with beings smaller than me. I guess let's just call it Persuasion, because it sure isn't gonna be Deception or Streetwise.

Role! This is specifically one's role in the battle against the Decepticons. Tumbler is pretty clearly a Warrior (I would love to make him a Modemaster so I could have a Minicon, like Blaster or Soundwave, but I don't think it fits). 

OK, so as a 1st Level Warrior (ugh, levels, whyyyy), I get +1 to Strength (9) and Smarts (2) and bumps to two Skills from those Essences (I'll get to that). I get a suite of Autobot abilities called For the Allspark!, but I'm not gonna note most of them because there's not a good place to do it. 

If I'm Defeated, I can spend an Energon and just lose a limb instead of going down, which is pretty badass. I'm Trained in Limited and Restricted Armor Upgrades, whatever that means, and I'm trained all weapons but Qualified with Might Weapons. 

I get a Focus, which is either Sentinel or Wrecker, and obviously I'm going with the former. That bumps my Speed up one (2) and gives me a bump in Finesse or Initiative (again, Skills at the end). I get the Stalwart Defense perk, which lets me take a shield or a parrying weapon. It doesn't look like I have to make a choice once and or all (though in Tumbler's case it'd pretty much always be the shield). 

I get some other perks, but there's not a good place to write them (man, character sheet design is such a hard thing to do, apparently). 

Anyway, next thing to do is Describe my Character, but I'm gonna do Skills first. To recap: My Essences are presently Strength 9, Smarts 2, Speed 2, and Social 3. I get 9 Skills in Strength, and for each point, I can gain a Rank (starting at d2), increase a Rank (which is effectively the same idea; max d12), or Specialize (which lets me roll my Rank die and all dice beneath it, and take the highest result, meaning unless you've got a d6 or better it's not worth it). 

SO! Brawn is sustained effort, Might is short bursts, Tumbler needs both. Four ranks in Might gives me d8, three in Brawn gives me d6, and then I want two in Athletics (d4). That's 9. Hrm. Feels like I should have some in Conditioning as well, but I'm out of points. OK, here's what we'll do, we'll move a point from Might and bump Social down to 2, that gives me 2 in Conditioning, which increases my Health by 2. 

Speed! Initiative and Driving d2, I think.

Smarts! Alertness, and I would take the second point in that, too, but I need to take either Culture or Survival per my Role and Survival doesn't make a lot of sense.

Social! Both points into Persuasion, I think.

Defenses! There's one for each Essence, and they're equal to Essence + any that I get for Perks. I don't think I get anything for mine? Let me check again. Nope; I do when I use my Sentinel perks but that's situational. 

So that's all the numbery stuff! Tumbler is, in Alt-Mode, a big blue and grey cement mixer. When he transforms, he's a very lorge robot with the barrel of the mixer on his right arm (I think he still has a hand, though). His voice is deep and slow, and he refers to anyone smaller than him as "squishy." He means it affectionately, though.