To understand how this system can be used to its fullest, here is an example of gameplay. Rather than an invented situation, this example and the others below use scenes and characters from the Beast Wars television series. An explanation of the events of the scene is provided, along with a sample of what a Storyteller and players might be doing if the episode were actually a roleplayed event.
Greg Johnson, today's Storyteller in the Beast Wars Chronicle, has gathered his whole nutty troupe around to do a little episode he calls "Bad Spark." (Yes, of course, many more people deserve credit for this work than just voice actors and writers! But, just for fun…) In this episode, he plans to premiere a new antagonist for the Beasties to fight over. This is a "Season Two" Scenario, so if you're using the character sheets to follow along, remember to scroll down.
There's no comic book or short story for you to follow along on this one, so I would suggest going to the video tape, if you can!
Optimus Primal (Gorilla), Cheetor (Cheetah), and Silverbolt (Wolf/Eagle)—three Maximals with Flight Mechanisms—have made their way to the center of a jungle, where they have found a stasis pod ominously marked with a giant red "X." Optimus Primal, the unit commander, explains to his allies the origin of the stasis pod: inside is a criminal, and murderer…"Protoform X," whom the Maximal unit had hoped to dump on a barren planet before their mission accidentally crash-landed on Earth.
The stasis pod, as luck would have it, has landed on a bed of raw energon. Optimus Primal and Cheetor are Transmetal; Silverbolt is a Fuzor, and can't soak the damage. Greg gives his players the benefit of the doubt; he tells them they'll be rolling soak every other round. The Transmetals soak all the damage, but situation forces Silverbolt to stay in robot mode, and he's taken two Health Levels already.
Right around the corner, a few Predacons also have their claim on the stasis pod, which they believe could hold a possible ally. Greg asks his Maximals to make a Perception roll, but the difficulty is 9: even though their attacker is a noisy type, the surrounding trees are blocking most of the sound. They fail, meaning the Predacons get a head start…
Blackarachnia (Black widow spider) and Waspinator (Wasp) arrive on the scene. Blackarachnia can't fly, so she's being carried by Waspinator in beast mode. She's the one in position to attack. Her Dexterity + Firearms pool is 6, and she's armed with exploding darts. Venus makes her roll: 4, 1, 7, 5, 3, 2. She has a single success, but the "1" cancels it out. The shot smacks the side of the stasis pod, and if the Maximals didn't know the Predacons were there before, they do now.
"Predacons claim that protoform!" she shouts, regaining her composure from that lousy shot. Waspinator puts her on the ground, and transforms into robot mode. Transforming uses his round, so it's all he can do, this time.
Now everyone can roll initiative, and the fun can start. Waspinator has the highest Wits/Altertness pool—6—and scores 3 successes on his roll. Blackarachnia has a pool of five, and rolls 4, 6, 8, 9, 6…four successes, this time! Cheetor scores 3 successes; Optimus 2, and Silverbolt only one.
Meanwhile, "off-screen," Alec says he wants to get his Predacon, Tarantulas, in to join in on the fun. Greg says he can arrive on the scene, since he, too, was tracking the pod, but only after this round and the next are resolved.
Blackarachnia decides to take another shot. She sees a possible weakness in Silverbolt, because of his lower generation, and declares he'll be her target. This time, she scores 2 successes on the roll to hit. With a firearm weapon, she can add these successes to the damage roll, so, Venus rolls five dice. 7, 6, 2, 3, 8. Three damage: not too shabby. Silverbolt's Stamina is four, and he rolls 6, 8, 1, 4. He only soaks one point, so he's already down to the Wounded level.
Waspinator has the same weapon as Blackarachnia, but a larger Dexterity + Firearms pool: 7! He wants to take his shot at Cheetor; Ian, fearing the worst, declares he'll dodge, then spend an Energon so he can attack back. His Dexterity + Dodge pool is the same as Waspinator's pool to attack. Ian drops his roll: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 0; and Scott (who always plays several characters a night) drops his: 1, 2, 2, 3, 7, 7, 8. The result is Cheetor's deft roll to the side, having beaten Waspinator's successes by two. Ian erases two points of Energon from his sheet, one so that he doesn't have to split his dice pool on the next shot, and another to activate his energy-based weapon, which is attached to his hands. Since Waspinator didn't declare any expenditure, he has to take what's coming next: an exemplary roll. Cheetor's fusion rifle fires off a 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 0, 0. Five successes, meaning that not only does Waspinator have a lot of damage to eat, but he's going to be knocked out of the sky. The damage roll tops off at eight points. The soak roll has two successes, but the whole of it is enough to send Waspinator to the dirt. Scott, who's already had to deal with Silverbolt's failing health, complains that the dice have not been liking his characters tonight. He decides not to spend any Spark if Waspinator loses that last Health Level. Greg says that, in one round, the area energon will knock him out cold.
Seeing that Blackarachnia is sorely outnumbered now, Gary, running Optimus, decides to use his action to propose a truce:
OPTIMUS PRIMAL: "This isn't necessary! Its spark was extinguished! We're too late!"
BLACKARACHNIA: "Pardon me if I don't buy that load, monkey!"
...and our players engage in some aggressive roleplay.
Silverbolt has a rather interesting Flaw that's going to come into play now: his Foe Aversion won't allow him to harm a female. Scott says he'll use this turn to get Silverbolt a little distance from the energon pit.
Venus still doesn't like these odds. She's spent two rounds in this area now, and, since Blackarachnia is a standard Organic, she's taken a Health Level of damage. Venus says she'll be spending some Energon, this time, hoping she can get enough actions in to beat the Maximals. She asks Greg if there is a tree, or such object, that she could use to slow the Maximals down. Since he's encouraging creative play, he says that—yes, he'll do her one better—there is a rocky outcrop right above Optimus's head, bringing the "Coyote" modifier into play. He declares that the amount of successes she scores on damage to the outcrop will determine the "rock rating" of the debris that tumbles down. She's hoping for a good roll to-hit, since a level 3 rock won't be enough to stun Optimus. The to-hit roll has 4 successes, and the damage roll has 5. That will do it. Optimus can still soak the damage (he soaks all but two), but he's not going to be able to act this round. Venus crosses off an Energon so she can take another shot. Her newest plan is to send Cheetor into the energon pit, hopefully increasing his damage. Greg says if she has three successes on the to-hit, he'll give her an extra die of damage for knocking him into the energon. However, he's Transmetal, and can still soak the damage. Her to-hit roll is 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9: just enough. The total damage roll is 5, and Cheetor soaks only 2. He's taken a good amount of damage, now, too, so, so far, Blackararchnia's doing a great job all by herself.
Meanwhile, the fighting is starting to agitate the unstable energon, which is all according to the Storyteller's plan...
Now, only one obstacle remains between Blackarachnia and the stasis pod, and that is a very unwilling Maximal who's taken his share of damage already. Scott declares that Silverbolt will not attack—he can't, in fact, because of his character Flaw. Feeling somewhat annoyed by that fact, Blackarachnia assaults him with her bare…pinchers. Venus rolls 6 dice for a punch. It connects, but Blackarachnia's Strength is only "1," meaning that in robot mode, she rolls 2 dice for Strength. Silverbolt's Stamina is 4, so he soaks the punches without much trouble, all the while attempting to stop the fight.
Alec wonders if it's his turn yet. He's ready to have Tarantulas make an entrance, but...since he waited all that time, he wants something flashy. After having his first idea—an "energon-discharge" match with Cheetor"—shot down by the Storyteller ("Look, we already apologized for 'The Low Road!'"), Alec has a better plan. He'll use the pre-established "rocky outcrop" as a ramp for his motorcycle vehicle mode, getting enough air to transform before hitting the ground, and grab Blackarachnia on his way down. This is a neat idea, so Greg's all for it, but it will be difficult at best. He declares that Tarantulas will need to spend a total of two Energon to pull this off: moving in is one action, transforming is a second, and attacking is another. He'll also have to succeed on a Dexterity + Athletics roll, difficulty 8, to get enough air to attack, but, Greg will subtract his successes from the difficulty of the grapple. If he fails the roll, no grapple, and if he botches, he'll look like a complete fool. Alec erases two Energon, and crosses off a Willpower, too, for an extra success. He didn't even need it: 3, 5, 8, 8, 9, 0: a total of five successes not only makes for a beautiful arc, but makes the grapple automatic. The crowd goes wild.
Blackarachnia is, needless to say, confused by the act, since it's usual Predacon behavior to fight with Maximals before fighting with each other.
BLACKARACHNIA: "What are you doing here?"
TARANTULAS: "You have information I want!"
The pair little suspects that yet more Predacons are privy to this conversation, over an open transmission. Silverbolt, meanwhile, has been holding action forever, and, finally, he sees a target he can take out. He starts his own fistfight, with Tarantulas…
What happens next? Energon explosion, group separation, a couple of characters who can't soak spending Spark to stay standing, and Critical System failures all 'round. A Maximal and a Predacon are going to have to work together to get themselves out of the jungle alive...and the real menace has now just awakened. If you're following this on videotape, see if you can guess how the dice fell.
"The future is not determined by a throw of the dice. It is determined by the conscious desicions of you and me."
—Phong, Reboot, "Identity Crisis"
Some examples of how to resolve Beast-Wars-specific non-combat actions are below. For information on resolving certain types of rolls during combat, see Chapter Four, "Battle and Weapon Systems." For information on non-combat actions which are not unique to this system, see other White Wolf publications.
Virtual Reality
Storytellers are encouraged to make computer work and hacking as interactive as possible. Cybertrons can, by plugging themselves into computer systems via Download, actually explore these virtual systems in a "physical" form. However, when traveling inside a dangerous system, Cybertrons can actually be forced to fight for their lives without leaving their seats. Inside a computer system, replace a Cybertron's Strength with her Intelligence, her Dexterity with her Manipulation, and her Stamina with her Wits. Intelligence is not doubled as a Strength modifier, and guns do only half their normal damage.
If a Cybertron should be unfortunate enough to engage combat inside the computer, she will be forcibly logged off the system if her astral projection is brought to Incapacitated. She must still spend a point of Spark to regain conciousness after this abrupt failure (in fact, nothing else will revive her), but she will not be damaged outside of the computer as she has taken no physical damage. She can then log on again without penalty, save the loss of time, effort, and Spark. Alternatively, she can spend "bounce-back" Spark before dropping to Incapacitated if she wishes to remain logged onto the system, but in this case she must roll a Critical System Failure. A Cybertron who spends her last point of Spark inside the virtual world, or who has her Spark destroyed in the virtual world, becomes a mental vegetable with no hope of recovery.
Mechanisms and spark powers work as normal in a computer world (save the substitutions for Physical rolls), but certain uses (such as the Magnetism 3 Electromagnetic Pulse) are strongly discouraged.
Transformers "purists" no doubt are wondering where the all-important Autobot and Decepticon information is located. However, this is another task in itself, requiring extra modifications to that which I've written above.
If this system is met well by Beast Wars fans, I have full plans to release a compendium: "Transformers: The Great War," which will provide all the details for creating Autobot and Decepticon characters. However, this system alone will likely suffice, with only a few modifications.
In a Great War Chronicle, do not mark a Cybertron's "Protoform" and "Alliance." Rather, mark Alliance as normal, and mark the character's "Faction" within this alliance. A sample Faction/Alliance combination would be Dinobot/Autobot, or Constructicon/Decepticon. Characters typically owe more loyalty to their Faction than Alliance.
Notice that the Mechanism section is basically complete for all types of Great War Transformer. (Perhaps you even noticed a few of your favorite Autobots in those rules above!) For Great War heroes, Level Five Mechanisms were much more common, and Cybertrons all had one ability for which they were specifically designed. For each character, choose a certain statistic: be it a specific level of a certain Mechanism (not the entire Mechanism), an attribute, a weapon, etc, and mark it with an "S." This is the character's personal "Shtick," and he may consider himself specialized in it, allowing for one automatic success on all rolls involving this ability, and the ability to re-roll tens for greater successes.
Background points will obviously require a different kind of spending. The ideas of "Pure Design" and "Past Spark" still apply, but to a lesser degree, given that most of the great heroes are still alive. "Generation" is especially tricky; no Autobots or Decepticons should spend Background points there, as their Generations do not follow the Beast Wars rules—a Generation of Transmetal is already assumed. However, allow Autobots and Decepticons to spend Background points in a new category:
Age
An Autobot or Decepticon who spends no Background points to his age is assumed to be a fledgling, recently built, but may be aged more than a century. Otherwise, the ages chart as follows:
1 Several hundred years old, up to one thousand.
2 Several millenia old, one-hundred-thousand at maximum.
3 From a hundred-thousand to four million years old, covering the gap between the departure and awakening of the great heroes.
4 Anywhere from four to nine million years of age, having lived for a good part of the Great War but never experiencing Cybertron's Golden Age.
5 Over nine million years of age, possibly as old as the dawn of time.
"Modern" Cyberorganic Cybertrons do not need to spend for this Background as they will as a rule never be more than a few hundred years of age. However, if the Storyteller's Chronicle is set in a very distant future, this Background may be used for all types of Cybertrons.
A Great War Autobot or Decepticon spends one Energon every day automatically, just to function. (They are major fuel-suckers, because they're so huge.)
The obvious: Rather than having beast modes, most Great War Transformers had vehicle modes. Generate vehicle modes as beast modes: by rearranging the Physical attributes as well as Appearance; however, add Manipulation into this mix. To create a "Triple-changer" (or more), spend five freebie points for an added form, as with Optimals.
Autobots begin with four points of Willpower; Decepticons with three. All Great War Transformers begin with three points of permanent Spark, but may add a point for every point they spend on the Age background.
Great War Transformers may buy any Mechanism, but may not buy Spark Powers.
Transformers would be a fascinating experiment in Live-Action Roleplaying. While I love White Wolf, I'm not a huge fan of the Mind's Eye Theatre "trait-bidding" style of play, which seems somewhat unwieldy for a Cybertron firefight. I do plan to study and revise it as I am very interested in running a live-action Beast Wars based directly on the series which I will call "Beast Wars: The Agenda." If I create a complete live-action compendium for this Transformers system, it will cover all four major races, and be called "Cybertron: The Other."
If you're deciding to run Transformers as a live-action game, remember the No Touching rule. For added Humiliation Factor, players should probably crawl on their hands and knees while in Beast Mode (unless, of course, the mode does not require it; I predict a lot of raptors and eagles). Arms-out like you're playing Airplane for a character in Flight Mode. Use toy weapons which are obviously toys, but, please, retain some verity and use toy weapons. Index cards are okay, but they're pretty sad. It's not that I'm telling you to ignore White Wolf's safety rules, it's that I'm telling you not to fill your Supersoakers with hydrochloric acid and play this in an airport. Another fun option is to dig out your old action figures for play. If you're into roleplaying with miniatures, the figures are a great idea! You'll have to manufacture your own hex board, but it might be worth it just to see the way a game plays out (and you can finally get some use out of that Cybershark figure you bought on a "hot tip"). Of course, if your Optimus Prime is still in the box, I would leave him there, that or send him to me as gratitude for "creating" this role-playing system.
This is bound to be a combat-based simulation, so prepare for it. Allow for surprise-attacks and ambushes. Choose settings that make sense; stick to indoors if you're playing on Cybertron, but if you're on Earth, finding a wooded area might add to the realism. Teamwork and treachery would be the ultimate keys to survival, along with good in-character acting.
I'm not required-by-law-or-I'll-get-sued if I say this, but I can't resist pointing out in my own genial way that you shouldn't use my Transformers system as an excuse to do something completely stupid. I don't care if you're a bobcat Transmetal with a jet-plane vehicle-mode; don't climb to the top of a two-hundred-foot pine tree and take a flying leap.
(I've broken every major copyright law in the book, so I might as well cover my butt on the injury suits.)
Considering you took the time to find this web site, I'm betting you've done a little bit of roleplaying on-line. Before I got into sitting around a table with dice, books, and flesh-creatures, that's where I started, too. In fact, on-line info might even be what you were looking for in the first place.
Playing on-line is a great idea if you can't find a local troupe (or a lenient enough Storyteller) to play Beast Wars. The simplest way to do it is to have every person make a character sheet, and gather in a chat room to play. AOL has as dice-rolling feature, and certain World Wide Web chat rooms provide this, as well. If your system doesn't allow you to roll dice, you'll have to take the other players' rolls on faith, so make sure you pick a group you can trust.