"Has anyone developed a role-playing system for Transformers yet...?"
"I'm working on it."
—Conversation between myself and friend Jim Spurrier, May 1999.
I'd gotten into Beast Wars just a few months before, and I was already getting the notion that I would like to run it as an RPG sometime. But how to do it? There were a lot of complications and a lot of aggravations. Would there be a system that allowed for this? Would I be able to pull it off?
Then, I got into White Wolf. I took a look at the alternate rules listed for things like Highlander-style "Immortals" and Disney-type "Gargoyles."
From there on, Cybertrons wrote themselves.
Obviously, this system is basically designed for "Beast Wars" style Transformers, not the Cybertronian Autobots and Decepticons of yore. Why is that? The main reason was my own personal interest. Have I seen the original Transformers? Of COURSE I have, and this document will certainly reflect that-I watch it like a maniac. However, what I was really "in" to at the time were the Maximals and the Predacons and their own private war...the sense of awe they had about the Autobots and Decepticons; they way they categorized and jumbled their history, it was all part of the myth.
The second reason this is really a Beast Wars system is because the show is a lot more specific about things. How did that happen? How is there birth; why is there death; how is there travel and energy... Beast Wars tells you these things. Transformers does, too, but in a less specific way. For example, I'm not enough of a purist to attempt to list all the ways the original Autobots learned to reproduce themselves.
(Please don't be frightened off by that admission...come on; it gets better than that...)
Another reason this is a Beast Wars system is because of its parallels to Werewolf: The Apocalypse. The main theme of trying to understand the beast within... The transformation as part of the internal self, and not just the outer mechanisms. I used a Werewolf book and Werewolf ideas for a lot of this story, but I picked up just about every other White Wolf book along the way.
That all being said, this system easily converts to Autobots and Decepticons and I do NOT want to limit players who want to choose them. References to them are littered throughout, and a guide for creating Autobot and Decepticon characters is below. I eventually plan to get up the courage to release "Transformers: The Great War," which will have all the Autobot/Decepticon information anyone will ever need to ask for. (I might need some major help on that one.)
I am aware that plenty of the "Cybertron Society" notes, along with all of the information on how characters choose beast modes, etc.: are fudges at worst and guesses at best. I guess on information when the television show leaves things to be implied. I fudge information involving arrival on Earth, as I am fully aware that there are technically and canonically no other "Beast Wars" Transformers who came to the planet Earth other than those on the show. (It would just have been fun for our imaginations if there were.)
This system is designed for those who are familiar with White Wolf roleplaying, and is not designed to be a replacement for the roleplaying books provided by White Wolf publications. Beast Wars fans and Transformers fans who want to give this system a try will still have to pick up a "real" White Wolf book or two. I recommend Werewolf, which I talk about above, and Vampire. Mage, Wraith, and Changeling will all work fine as examples of the system itself, but don't adapt as well to the information below.
A few notes about the document and its setup: most hyperlinks are to different files within this same document. If a quotation is hyperlinked, you can pick up a sound file, in wav format, of the quote. I am accepting submissions of wavs for quotes I do not already have; if you have a wav to share, contact me.
When and where do I set this chronicle? a Storyteller might ask. The possibilities are limitless. Cybertrons have permeated every corner of the galaxy; they are colonizers, first and foremost, and choose where they live and when. Cybertronian technology allows for time travel, and though "mucking around" in the events of the Great War itself is prohibited, it isn't always prevented. Chronicles set on Cybertron itself during the Beast Wars are set in the years 2300 (earth-time) and beyond. The Beast Wars on Earth itself were during approximately 4 million BC. Statistics for "show" regulars will be provided-play these characters if you want, or create your own. Have them interact with the "real" characters, or ignore that war entirely. Set a crossover chronicle in the regular World of Darkness (details are below for most possibilities); set it on another planet altogether and have your players create alien "beast" modes. Above all, enjoy this system and have fun with it.
This system is still under construction. I eagerly await feedback from both Transfans and White-Wolf-players alike to help me make this the most accurate Beast Wars role playing system possible—not to mention the most fun.
Enjoy!