[Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, And Nifty Stuff

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11-01-2008, 04:52 PM

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Vlad Basarab[Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

So I've been kicking around the idea to run a Transformers campaign since the live action movie cameout last year using Cartoon Action Hour. As I am not by any stretch of the imagination an expert on thecanon of Transformers, I decided to come up with my own (and after researching, discovered therewere apparently mutliple canons for them. Truly more than meets the eye...) by cherry picking what Ilike from various sources and hope it was to my players liking.

The aim is to make the Transformers a little less cartoony and a tad more serious. Yes, it still hassome cheesy sci-fi tropes...it's robots turning into cars for crying out loud! But stuff like "Mass shifting"

is unheard of in most cases. A Transformer could appear larger in its alternate form(much like a pufferfish), but its mass would be the same. Similarly a Transformer could appear slightly smaller in itsalternate form, by tightly compacting itself or losing significant mass (but no 35-foot tall robot turninginto a Walther PPK 9mm pistol).

The group that I had at the time seemed enthused when I mentioned it, but then became moreenthused with playing All Flesh Must Be Eaten. (Not a problem, as I loves me some zombie apocalypseaction. :D)

Anyway, here it is over a year later and I have a new group of players and a couple of them havestated an interest in possibly playing a Transformers-based rpg. Cool, except I seem to have forgottena lot of the stuff that I came up with. Here's what I can remember coming up with:

They are Transformers in More than Name Alone

Their name does not stem from their ability to change their shapes. It comes from what they do toworlds. For the entirety of their existence, the Transformers have moved to worlds rich in energon (asort of planetary life-force) and transformed them. The Combaticon forms wiped out any dangerousindiginous life forms to make a safe working for the Constructicon forms to come in an techno-formedthese worlds--that is, they built titanic planet-side harvesting machinery needed to extract the energonfrom the worlds on which it was found.

The reasons as to why they have this instinctive programming. The truth is that they were originallysimple drones built by a vast entity known as Unicron for the purpose of harvesting the energon thatthis being needed to feed on. This truth used to be only known by the members of a small and

secretive faction of Datacon Lore Keepers, but when this truth was revealed to Optimus Prime, hedisseminated it among his fellow Transformers. This ultimately led to the formation the group of Transfomers that came to be known as the Autobots, as they sought to ignore their instinctualprogramming and exist more autonomously.

The Transformers are Alive

They may be inorganic, but they are very much like human beings. Their bodies are capable of growthand change (duh!), and like humans, they too are capable of healing minor damage. However, theyare also like the human machine in that they are a collection of are interdependent parts that requireone another to function. If severely damaged they need to be repaired. They are hardier than humansand can survive injuries that would kill a human. Decapitation would prove to be an inconvenience to aTransformer, as the body and head would most likely cease functioning, but the injury would probably

not be lethal (a shot to the heuristic processor, however, would most likely be terminal).

Transformers also possess minds much like humans do. The think and ponder. They feel emotions.They dream. They refer to their consciousness as a Spark and it is what make each Transformerunique.

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Transformers are "born" when their bodies, or protoforms, are infused with a Spark. In the timebefore the War, this typically took place within the depths Cube Prime, a huge factory ship thatfacilitated their itinerant harvesting of energon. Currently, few new Transformers are created. Thosethat are awaken in long abandoned and forgotten sites production facilities with little to no indication of how they arrived there.

There are various Transformers' protoforms that exist, but the Spark is what makes them unique. Oneneed to only look at Air Commander Starscream and the Decepticon warriors known as the Seekersthat are his subordinates to see this. All Seekers possess a body nearly identical to his. However, theinfusion of the Spark can cause the protoform to evolve new abilities that other Transformers withsimilar protoforms don't possess. For instance, the Seeker Skywarp is capable of teleportation. Another Seeker named Thundercracker could be considered his "brother," as they possess theidentical protoforms and were constructed and infused at the same time. However, Thundercrackernever developed the ability to teleport. He instead can produce kinetic force resulting in sonic booms.

A rather recent development and yet another similarity to organic lifeforms is the fact that while mostTransformers usually demonstrate masculine behavioral traits, Transformers are being created thatpossess female physical/mental traits. How this has come about is a mystery. A very small percentageof Transformers display animalistic behavioral and/or physical traits, and an even smaller percentageof these beast machines can seemingly grow organic parts, such as an epidermis or internal organs.

WAR is HELL

It is a War Between Classes

It is a war fought between conflicting political/moral/religious factions. The primary players are themilitaristic rulers of the Transformers, the sole surviving iteration of the ancient Combaticon race, theDecepticons. Led by power-hungry Lord Megatron, the latest in long line of those that claim carry theSpark of the Transformers's greatest hero Tron, the Decepticons seek to crush the rebellion staged bythe faction of Transformers known as the Autobots that refuse to obey the dictates of civil and religiouslaw.

The Autobots in turn claim that freedom is the right of all sentient beings and life under the oppressiveregime of the Decepticons is unthinkable. This faction is made up from Transformers from all walks of life: former-Decepticons, Constructicons, and Datacons. All of them are united by their opposition to

the totalitarian rule of Decepticons, although their reasons for opposition may differ. Some

The Autobots were formed and are led by the former Decepticon Commander Optimus Prime, whohimself claims that he has been charged by the Machine God Primus with freeing his fellowTransformers from the yoke of Decepticon tyranny and protecting other species from becoming victimsof the Decepticon's predations and the War in general.

And still there are those on either side that have doubts about their factions. From the oppressedConstructicons that labor for Decepticons, to the former subordinates of Megatron now fighting as Autobots who question Optimus' sympathy for non-Transformer life forms, nothing is absolute.

It is a War of Survival

For those Transformers that have been branded as Autobots, the can expect nothing less than utterdestruction at the the hands of the Decepticons. If they are fortunate, they're termination will be swiftand they're suffering short-lived. This most likely is not the case. Megatron will not allow one Autobotto survive. They call his divinity into question and this cannot be allowed.

When the great schism occured long ago, the Autobots left the Decepticons and their underlings totheir own devices. They traveled far and found an energon-rich, Earth-like planet to settle on. Theylived peaceably there with the native humanoid lifeforms their, even changing the configuration of theirfaces to make interation easier with these far-flung cousins of humanity. They dubbed this worldCybertron, as it had become a mesh of organic and inorganic lifeform living in harmony. The Autobotsknew peace. Then the Decepticons came and paradise was destroyed. Most of the Autobot were off-world scouting for an alternate world from which to extract energon, as they feared taking too much

from Cybertron would endanger their human allies. The few Autobots left fought to save their organicfriends, but the Decepticons were too numerous, too powerful. Cybertron fell to the Decepticons andthe murderous mechanical monsters soon turned their attentions on the "Fleshlings." The returning Autobots could only flee when confronted with the might of the assembled Decepticon forces, theirretreat haunted by the transmission of their allies begging their conquerors for mercy and being givennone.





It is a War Fueled by Starvation

All known sources of the precious energon that sustains all Transformers have been exhausted.Cybertron is now a metallic husk floating in space, a techno-formed world now sucked dry of anynourishment. The sole known repository within reasonable travel distance is a world that is nearly atwin of ancient Cybertron, called Earth.

The Autbots scout teams have already infiltrated the various human societies present there. Theymaintain low-profiles using their ability to change their shapes, taking the form of common objects andvehicles. They slowly make their presence known to various humans, in an attempt to preparehumanity and themselves for the inevitable Decepticon invasion. Clandestine energon productionfacilities are being constructed. Essential intelligence is gathered about potential human allies.

The Decepticons have arrived already, undetected by thier longtime foes. They have learned thatwiping out the Fleshlings would be deleterious to energon production as somehow their existencecauses energon to replenish. Using their tried and true method of utilizing cunning and deception, theyseek to ally themselves with various nations and corporations by use of cloned infiltration units.

Their War...Our World

The Autobots will seek to hold off direct confrontation with the Decepticons as long as possible in the

hope of minimalizing civilian casualties. The problem is that the Decepticons know this, just as theyknow that their old foes are here on Earth. The Autobots are outnumbered as the Decepticons havedispatched thousands of seeker probes to hunt down these Autobots, while landing scores of Deceptidrone units to deal with these Autobots once found.

The Autobots can't win this on their own. They will need help. Our help.

...And Other Worlds

The Transformers aren't the only ones that know about and utilize energon. And the millennia they'vespent exterminating lifeforms, sucking planets dry, and monopolizing energon harvesting has madethem some powerful enemies. Enemies that won't think twice about attacking Earth during theTransformers infiltration phase.

Somewhere in the depths of space, the five thought constructs that rule over what remains of the hive-minded Quintesson race draw their plans against the Transformers and Humanity alike.

********************************

Whew,,,so there it is. I have a few things I'd like to with the game.

I'd like to have the players play as the primary Autobot infiltration team. They've been planetside frombetween 6 month to a year. They're primarily charged with watching out for Decepticon activity, withother priorities including finding a safer way to extract energon from the planet that doesn't meanturning the world into a large chrome sphere and making allies amongst the humans.

I'd also like for the players to not only create thier Autobot PCs, but their human allies as well, with thepossiblility of playing games where the human allies would be played. I'm not sure how viable thatwould be in play, though.

So now it comes down to the fact that I turn to any Transformers fans out there to possibly throwsome ideas out there.

Some strange riffing off of some of the ideas in the canon would be much appreciated. Stuff like...

Can male and female Transformers "merge" to form a bouncing baby bot? :eek:

Should gestalt-form Transfomers like Bruticus or Devastator be possible? If they are, is the gestalt thecore personality, with its Spark split up amongst its component members?

C'mon RPG.net, I know you can do it, 'cause..."You got the touch. You got the poweeeeeeeeeer!"





11-01-2008, 05:51 PM

11-01-2008, 06:23 PM

GaoGaiGarRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

A neat idea, and one I'd like to play in, though I don't think Transformers reproduce that way...

Some of the gestalt/special team/combiners have been said to have problems operating in combinedmode because of the five minds in one. This was a bit of text from the Comic-Con exclusive Menasor:

"Experimental mechanics may have successfully unified the gestalt frame of MENASOR into a wholephysical creature, but no level of shell programming or kernel restructuring has been able to modify hisfractured mind. Constructed from the bodies of the five DECEPTICON warriors who once combined toform him, he is nearly indestructible. He is the ultimate in state-of-the-art destructive capabilities,driven by an almost mindless rage at the psychic agony that constantly torments him.

The dominant personality within him is that of the former leader of the Stunticons, Motormaster. Hatedby his teammates, he nevertheless exercised an iron-fisted control over the team - a control thatslipped only once the five found themselves unified in MENASOR. Even now, hardwired into thecommand network of the new body, he withstands a constant mental assault from the suppressedpersonalities of his four underlings. As a result, MENASOR, who should be the ultimate weapon, is littlemore than a destructive monster, incapable of following a plan, and desirous of nothing more than tosmash everything around him."

Now while that may be a feature instead of a bug for the Decepticons, the Autobots would want toavoid that sort of thing.

Perhaps your PC team is being trained to operate smoothly as a team so that when they are given agestalt upgrade, they'll work together well in that form?

Random thought: A used-car lot would be a great Autobot base of operations/hideout. Lots of strangecars moving in and out all the time... and no one would think twice about a car with a lot of cableshooked up to it in the garage, one of them being a high-speed internet connection that the hacker Autobot is working with.

s/LaSHRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

It all sounds good to me - as in, when I've considered the idea of rebooting the Transformers story, itwinds up an awful lot like this.

Is the concept of Autonomy central to the Autobots? It certainly sounds that way. By contrast,therefore, the Decepticons are probably all about the slaves, transformer or fleshy, and working themuntil they drop. They won't be needed later, after all.

One neat thing I considered was the fact that Transformers are not big slabs of metal that walk andtalk. The simplest parts of their bodies are more complex than the finest engines available today.

Transformation isn't limited to a full-body effect; each bot has a whole bag of tricks built-in, dependingon personality, function, and whatever weird gifts the Spark has granted. And those tricks can beswapped out with a flick of the wrist. You see bits of this in the recent movie with bots transforming ahand, Megaman style, into a gun, which makes perfect sense to me.

In RPG terms, that could be extended into a mechanic whereby your inventory, skills, and body are one

Originally Posted by Vlad Basarab

Can male and female Transformers "merge" to form a bouncing baby bot? :eek:Should gestalt-form Transfomers like Bruticus or Devastator be possible? If they are, is thegestalt the core personality, with its Spark split up amongst its component members?

C'mon RPG.net, I know you can do it, 'cause..."You got the touch. You got the

poweeeeeeeeeer!"

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=9557226#post9557226





11-02-2008, 09:16 AM

11-02-2008, 09:20 AM

big 'pool' of abilities, but you can only use so many at a time, maybe six body slots for succinctness.Perhaps we'll also rule that you can swap two slots per turn as a free action. I'm just handwaving thisstuff.

So say you've got two bots climbing across a cliff. We'll call one Nailgun and the other Leadfoot(random names, dunno if there are already transformers of those names); they've each got themedpools of abilities. Nailgun is using four of his slots to turn his hands and feet into claws, good forclinging to sheer surfaces. He's also got an X-ray vision module so that he can see flaws in the rock.Leadfoot, meanwhile, isn't so good at this, so Nailgun's last slot is used on a towline going into one of Leadfoot's slots. Leadfoot's special attack is a rocket-assisted jump, landing on enemy's heads from agreat height, and that rocket could come in handy breaking a fall (it can't fly long distances) so that'shis second. He's acting as the eyes and ears of the team, with a radar sensor package open, and he'salso got a long-distance transmitter to the base in case they need support. His last two slots are aspotlight for the cave they're trying to reach, and a set of seats for the human companions who arecoming along.

So a Decepticon air patrol shows up and starts causing trouble. Leadfoot fires off his distress call andswaps that slot out for body armour to protect his companions. Nailgun transforms one hand into a railgun and lays down some suppressive fire. There's a bit of shooting while the two teams get themeasure of each other, and Leadfoot decides it's getting too dangerous for the humans even under hisarmour, so they both relinquish their towline. Nailgun uses the slot for body armour, and Leadfoot usesit to bring out his standard blaster; he drops off the cliff-face, passengers screaming, firing as he falls,

and then triggers his rocket for a soft landing and exchanges it for wheels on his feet to make a quick retreat to a place of safety. At the same time, Nailgun is using that X-ray module to target vulnerablepoints on the Decepticons while he clings to the cliff-face. That's two rounds.

Just a thought that came to me, I'm sure it could be polished further.

Knarf Re: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Last time I messed with TransFormers, I found the Teletraan-1 wiki to be immensely helpful.

Vlad BasarabRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

Yeah, I'm not so sure that the whole male robot + female robot = baby bot idea is very viable. I waslooking for a way around the fact that Cube Prime isn't producing anymore protoforms or infusing themwith Sparks and was sort of inspired by (albeit dumb) scenes in the movie where Bay's Cube wouldspontaneously turn ordinary objects into seemingly infantile (and heavily armed) Transfomers.

I wasn't imaging the male + female merging being like the human variety. Prolly a more sanitized PG-13 version instead of disturbing metallic rutting. :eek:

Something like they open their Spark chambers and are both bathed in a celestial light show as they'reSparks merge, then separate into three sparks, the third being their "offspring" and it would most likelyteleport to and infuse itself in an empty protoform, or perhaps miraculously convert some existingmechanism into a new body. *shrugs*

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaoGaiGar

A neat idea, and one I'd like to play in, though I don't think Transformers reproduce thatway...

Some of the gestalt/special team/combiners have been said to have problems operating incombined mode because of the five minds in one. This was a bit of text from the Comic-Conexclusive Menasor:






11-02-2008, 10:10 AM

Hmm interesting. I wasn't sure if I'd include gestalt/combiners in my setting, but it may be kind of coolfor the Decepticons to have a titanic berserker. I could see the leader being able to force the mergebecause the rest of the team lives in terror at the thought of being subsumed into that psychic hell.

Might be a neat angle for my version of Starscream and his Seekers.

Quote:

Consider that nifty idea stolen for future use once the Autobots circle the wagons. I may turn it into agarage rather than a car lot to explain why some of the more unconventional vehicles my player mightchoose for alt-forms are gathered in the same place, but still a neat idea! :cool:


Quote:

Yes. I picture the Autobots being all about freedom and thumbing there noses at Decepticon law.

In the Decepticon-controlled society of Cybertron, being officially declared an Autobot is tantamount tobeing charged with High Treason and declared an Infidel/Heretic. To the State, Autonomy is a capitalcrime. It is something that the average Transformer lives in fear of, for it means that you will mostlikely face termination by torture and will cause Megatron's Inquisitors to investigate all of your friendsand associates as well.

Upon being found guilty of Autonomy, most Transformers are stripped of their previous insignia andthey are reformatted to bear the Autobot symbol, which was created by Optimus Prime when hecaused the Great Schism. He submitted himself for reformatting, losing his Decepticon emblem that

"Experimental mechanics may have successfully unified the gestalt frame of MENASOR into awhole physical creature, but no level of shell programming or kernel restructuring has beenable to modify his fractured mind. Constructed from the bodies of the five DECEPTICONwarriors who once combined to form him, he is nearly indestructible. He is the ultimate instate-of-the-art destructive capabilities, driven by an almost mindless rage at the psychicagony that constantly torments him.

The dominant personality within him is that of the former leader of the Stunticons,

Motormaster. Hated by his teammates, he nevertheless exercised an iron-fisted control overthe team - a control that slipped only once the five found themselves unified in MENASOR.Even now, hardwired into the command network of the new body, he withstands a constantmental assault from the suppressed personalities of his four underlings. As a result,MENASOR, who should be the ultimate weapon, is little more than a destructive monster,incapable of following a plan, and desirous of nothing more than to smash everythingaround him."

Now while that may be a feature instead of a bug for the Decepticons, the Autobots wouldwant to avoid that sort of thing.

Random thought: A used-car lot would be a great Autobot base of operations/hideout. Lotsof strange cars moving in and out all the time... and no one would think twice about a carwith a lot of cables hooked up to it in the garage, one of them being a high-speed internetconnection that the hacker Autobot is working with.

Originally Posted by s/LaSH

Is the concept of Autonomy central to the Autobots? It certainly sounds that way. Bycontrast, therefore, the Decepticons are probably all about the slaves, transformer or fleshy,and working them until they drop. They won't be needed later, after all.






was based on the countenance of Tron, the first Decepticon, and was emblazoned with a new symbolthat resembled the countenance of their human friends that they settled on Cybertron with.

After a prisoner is Autobranded, they are imprisoned for quite some time in public view, where theirfellow Transfomers witness their torture, confession, apology, and execution.

I can also see that not all Autobots necessarily fit into the idea of them that we have from the canon. Ipicture there being a small number of villainous Autobots that laugh at Optimus Prime's ideas of fighting to the death to protect fleshlings. These rogues exist on the fringes as energon pirates andthieves or allied with some of the Transformers' enemies, like the Quintessons.

Primes' Autobots are the only ones that wear the Autobot symbol with pride, however. Most of theothers try to hide it, but to little avail. Those Autobrands that are inflicted by the state give of subtletransmissions that allow any Transformer to sense that he has been declared an Autobot.

Quote:

I see Transformers being made up of smaller mechanism, their "organs," for lack of better word, thatare indeed highly adaptable.

One of the ideas I've had is that a Transformer does possess the ability to cause minor changes in itsstructure, but the extent of ability of this varies from Transformer to Transformer. One may only becapable of changing the color of its Alt-Form, another maybe able to change both the color and bodystylings, much like how Bumblebee turned for a 70's Camaro into the Camaro Concept.

Gross changes (extreme increases in the base size, being able to turn into an entirely different vehicletype, changing your on-board weapons systems) I envision require "reformatting", that is, being placewithin chamber and having core elements of the protoform altered.

Similar to the comics and cartoons, I picture each Transformer having a signature shtick of somenature or another--Megatron's Fusion Cannon, Hound's Holographic Projections, Starscream's NullCannons, and Skywarp's teleportational ability. I'd like for each Transformer to have their own

ingrained ability or special weapon.

One of the reasons I want to use CAH for this game is the plug-and-play aspect of the Special Abilities.So you could conceivably have a Transformer operate in different "modes", based on what Special Abilities they has access to at the time. Maybe the swapping of SA slots requires a certain amount of time, so that it takes a few moments to go from one mode to another. Or maybe individual SAs havedifferent "cool down" periods, akin to special skills and spells in MMOs.

Quote:

One neat thing I considered was the fact that Transformers are not big slabs of metal thatwalk and talk. The simplest parts of their bodies are more complex than the finest enginesavailable today. Transformation isn't limited to a full-body effect; each bot has a whole bagof tricks built-in, depending on personality, function, and whatever weird gifts the Spark hasgranted. And those tricks can be swapped out with a flick of the wrist. You see bits of this inthe recent movie with bots transforming a hand, Megaman style, into a gun, which makesperfect sense to me.

In RPG terms, that could be extended into a mechanic whereby your inventory, skills, andbody are one big 'pool' of abilities, but you can only use so many at a time, maybe six bodyslots for succinctness. Perhaps we'll also rule that you can swap two slots per turn as a freeaction. I'm just handwaving this stuff.

So say you've got two bots climbing across a cliff. We'll call one Nailgun and the otherLeadfoot (random names, dunno if there are already transformers of those names); they've

each got themed pools of abilities. Nailgun is using four of his slots to turn his hands andfeet into claws, good for clinging to sheer surfaces. He's also got an X-ray vision module sothat he can see flaws in the rock. Leadfoot, meanwhile, isn't so good at this, so Nailgun'slast slot is used on a towline going into one of Leadfoot's slots. Leadfoot's special attack is arocket-assisted jump, landing on enemy's heads from a great height, and that rocket couldcome in handy breaking a fall (it can't fly long distances) so that's his second. He's acting as





11-02-2008, 10:35 AM

11-02-2008, 10:41 AM

Yes, something like that works nicely. I may have the characters make up or choose a list of Special

Abilites that they have access to and come up with either charges, swap time limits, or cool downperiods for them.

Well done. :)

KreuzritterRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

let's see

human factions

various earth militaries - gunning after both sides, unless the 'bots can convince them they're the goodgiant robots. perhaps in this universe, GI Joe is the US military's anti-transformer strike force

the [name] corporation - similar to the Sector 7 agency from the film, they've built thei fortune onreverse engineering a downed transformer or two. and with the other TFs arrival, they see theirchance to nab a flock of golden geese. and since they're tampering in primus' domain, you've got anynumber of 'mad science' plots to spingboard.

---

on the notion of reproduction, i get the feeling it's something the autobots figured out as an alternativeto stripping worlds bare. naturally, without a Protoform Ark like Cube Prime, they can't make new TFs

whole cloth or en masse, but using a process like the one vlad described, they can make muchsmaller, more adaptive proto-TFs, which eventually 'grow' into actual TFs. these 'minicons' aresymbiotic, attatching themselves to another TF for nourishment/protection, and in return act as amodulr component, being able to go places and manipulate objects a full-grown transformer couldn't(using the movie, Skorponok and Frenzy would be Blackout and barricade's respective minicons).

naturally, the decepticons eventually got their own minicons, typically ripped from autobot husks andslaved to their control

minicons typicly have a human-level intelligence, albiet subordinate to their 'parent'. 'orphan' Miniconsrarely develop a mental state best described as Feral. Decepticons have been known to deliberatlydrive minicons to this state, for use as 'attack dogs'


Quote:

the eyes and ears of the team, with a radar sensor package open, and he's also got a long-distance transmitter to the base in case they need support. His last two slots are a spotlightfor the cave they're trying to reach, and a set of seats for the human companions who arecoming along.

So a Decepticon air patrol shows up and starts causing trouble. Leadfoot fires off hisdistress call and swaps that slot out for body armour to protect his companions. Nailguntransforms one hand into a rail gun and lays down some suppressive fire. There's a bit of shooting while the two teams get the measure of each other, and Leadfoot decides it's

getting too dangerous for the humans even under his armour, so they both relinquish theirtowline. Nailgun uses the slot for body armour, and Leadfoot uses it to bring out hisstandard blaster; he drops off the cliff-face, passengers screaming, firing as he falls, andthen triggers his rocket for a soft landing and exchanges it for wheels on his feet to make aquick retreat to a place of safety. At the same time, Nailgun is using that X-ray module totarget vulnerable points on the Decepticons while he clings to the cliff-face. That's tworounds.

Just a thought that came to me, I'm sure it could be polished further.





11-02-2008, 11:11 AM

11-02-2008, 11:14 AM

So, the big example here would be the Dinobots then


okay, here's another thing you've alluded to

subfactions

the ones you've mentioned thus far are based on function than alliegiance (combaticon, constructicon),but with the schism, have other, unalinged factions arisen?

examples

insecticons: decepticons overwhelmed by their basic programming, devouring anything in their pathlike a horde of locusts

predacons - loyal decepticons that nonetheless recognize the autobots might be onto something withthis "don't stripmine the planet" idea. they aren't going bot, they just agree on the "it's where i keep allmy stuff' aspect. they're probably the 'con faction most behind the current strategy.


Quote:

I'm thinking about having the Decepticons possibly set up shop in a fictitious nation inspired by NorthKorea, South American or Middle Eastern countries. Run by a slightly mad despot that has built adecently sized, if not antiquated, army at the expense of his people's standard of living. TheDecepticons make an agreement with the despot to improve the technology of his army or even fightsome of his battles for him, in exchange for setting up subterranean energon extraction & processingfacilities, concealed from the eyes of spy satellites. Of course the despot will eventually try to betray

them, but not before the Decepticons beat him to the punch!;)

I'd like for the Autobots to eventually ally themselves with the UN or at least the governments of several different nation, but maybe not before being mistaken for hostile invaders.

Quote:


I can also see that not all Autobots necessarily fit into the idea of them that we have fromthe canon. I picture there being a small number of villainous Autobots that laugh at OptimusPrime's ideas of fighting to the death to protect fleshlings. These rogues exist on the fringesas energon pirates and thieves or allied with some of the Transformers' enemies, like theQuintessons.

Originally Posted by Kreuzritter

human factions

various earth militaries - gunning after both sides, unless the 'bots can convince themthey're the good giant robots. perhaps in this universe, GI Joe is the US military's anti-transformer strike force

the [name] corporation - similar to the Sector 7 agency from the film, they've built theifortune on reverse engineering a downed transformer or two. and with the other TFsarrival, they see their chance to nab a flock of golden geese. and since they're tampering inprimus' domain, you've got any number of 'mad science' plots to spingboard.







11-02-2008, 11:39 AM

I like your ideas regarding procreation and infant Transfomers! If you go by these ideas, Soundwavewould be one fecund son of a gun!

I can definitely picture Transformers created using a Spark from Cube Prime awakening mostly

matured, as saw the Sparks as a form of reincarnation for the Transformers. A TF dies, its Spark returns to the All Spark within Cube Prime and then the deceased TF's Spark is placed in a newprotoform, resulting in the "birth" of a new Transformer.

But using the male + female procreation idea that I came up, the new Spark that is created doesn'tpossess the nascent behavioral or intellectual patterns found in one of Cube Prime's Sparks, meaningthat a newly born Transformer must actually raised by its parents...I like that a lot!:)

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I could see that. I picture a lot of the Transformers that possess an animal-based alt-form could beconsidered Autobots, as they tend to be extremely enamored with other lifeforms, so much so thatthey attempt to live as them. That would tend to get them branded as Heretics, at the least.

As far as the Dinobots specifically, I'll just say that I do have plans for them...:cool:


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on the notion of reproduction, i get the feeling it's something the autobots figured out as analternative to stripping worlds bare. naturally, without a Protoform Ark like Cube Prime, theycan't make new TFs whole cloth or en masse, but using a process like the one vladdescribed, they can make much smaller, more adaptive proto-TFs, which eventually 'grow'into actual TFs. these 'minicons' are symbiotic, attatching themselves to another TF fornourishment/protection, and in return act as a modulr component, being able to go placesand manipulate objects a full-grown transformer couldn't (using the movie, Skorponok andFrenzy would be Blackout and barricade's respective minicons).

naturally, the decepticons eventually got their own minicons, typically ripped from autobothusks and slaved to their control

minicons typicly have a human-level intelligence, albiet subordinate to their 'parent'. 'orphan'Minicons rarely develop a mental state best described as Feral. Decepticons have beenknown to deliberatly drive minicons to this state, for use as 'attack dogs'

So, the big example here would be the Dinobots then.


okay, here's another thing you've alluded to

subfactions

the ones you've mentioned thus far are based on function than alliegiance (combaticon,constructicon), but with the schism, have other, unalinged factions arisen?

examples

insecticons: decepticons overwhelmed by their basic programming, devouring anything intheir path like a horde of locusts

predacons - loyal decepticons that nonetheless recognize the autobots might be ontosomething with this "don't stripmine the planet" idea. they aren't going bot, they just agreeon the "it's where i keep all my stuff' aspect. they're probably the 'con faction most behind






11-02-2008, 11:48 AM

11-02-2008, 02:09 PM

Function usually determine form in my setting. Comabaticons are built for fighting and strategizing.Constructicons for designing and building. Datacons for information gathering an analyzing.

A Transformer's attitude, actions, and circumstances determine which Faction it belongs to.

For instance, Starscream is a Combaticon, as he was made for fighting. He is also a Decepticon, as his

allegiance lies with the Prime Directive (the ingrained programming that compels the Transformers tosteal the energon for planets) and the governing body of Transformers.

Ironhide is a Combaticon as well (the oldest known surviving one at that), but he is an Autobotbecause he choose to ignore the Prime Directive (he values the lives of sapient beings over theharvesting of energon) and he now longer recognzied the authority of the Decepticon government (of which he was an officer at the time).

This came about mostly from me playing around with some of the canon terminolgy.

I picture there being many sub-factions within their society. There are Decepticons that view Megatronas a messianic figure and Autobots that view Optimus Prime the same way. I wanted their to bereligions and secret societies amongst them.

******************

I had thought of using the term Predacon to be representative of specific type of Comabticon, scoutsthat specialized adopting the forms of native lifeforms on the various worlds that they discover.Possibly an outmoded type, as they also tended to adopt the behavioral traits of animals as well.

I had thought about making the Insecticons as a group of both Combaticons and Constructicon,infected by a Quintesson nanite virus, that makes them very similar to what you described. TheQuintessons used them to harvest energon via immense hives and with the Constructicons acting

drones and the Combaticons acting as warriors.

GlaugRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

There's an actual play plus several threads I posted on TRO about the short BESM3E TF game I ran. Iwant to try one with Cartoon Action Hour S2 when I get it, but I was never fond of 1E.

As an aside, the G2 TF comic has TFs reproducing by "budding", a dangerous process because a"budded" Transformer has a less pure spark than one created by the Matrix, and eventually they endedup totally evil and malicious.

BrokenRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

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I like that idea, but I'd get rid of the gender-related issues. They're robots; it shouldn't matter if theirpersonalities read as being masculine or feminine. It's all about the Spark, baby.

the current strategy.


Something like they open their Spark chambers and are both bathed in a celestial light showas they're Sparks merge, then separate into three sparks, the third being their "offspring"and it would most likely teleport to and infuse itself in an empty protoform, or perhapsmiraculously convert some existing mechanism into a new body. *shrugs*






11-02-2008, 02:15 PM

11-02-2008, 02:52 PM

11-03-2008, 11:15 AM

Cynthia Celeste MillerRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

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If you're cool with PDFs, today is the final day of the $16 sale for the CAH:S2 rulebook.

martikhorasRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Follow Bey, toss out energon, relate it all to the magic cube. This consolidates macguffins and suchmatters. If they need energy you still can use any plot from the old cartoon plus not have to make itstrain disbelief they've decided to ignore the plethora of space born sources. Tying reproduction to the

Cube and other matters makes them sufficiently different and alien without the full mystical claptrap of the matrix of leadership or having to make up silly matters.

Yes there is other organic life but Transformers-who are energy beings who's "souls" are sparks of somehow coherent quantum energy (let us wait as the physicists have their CSI moment) housed inmechanical bodies and thus can die if its lost- tend to have trouble relating to it. TF have their ownculture but its a culture that communicates and relates to matters akin to gestalt of computers. whenthey come to a planet they adopt not just forms but personalities and ideas. The ultimate immigrantsand assimilatees. They aren't called Transformers, they call themselves some amount of tone mixedwith spins and zeroes and ones just as their names are not Optimus Prime (the dude's older than latin)or Megatron. If you wanna dive beneath the veneer, fine, but mainly just accept a transformers ID isslightly different than human.

Decepticons dominate to one will, this can manifest in the classic or the recent TFanimated way (wholelike of iconolasts strung along by potent personas). Autobots believe ultimately in unity by choice theyorganize and have leaders but usually they prefer commitee and individual rights come first. For somereason they also have less firepower, regardless of position. It may be the autobots come from acommoner class or a security protocol. At the very least Autobots are more about building and utilitythan warring.

The war has raged for a long time. In the last...turn it became a series of skirmishes with Megatrongone (only his inner circle knew it was for the cube). Cybertron died long ago. There are Transformersassimilated to different societies. They can be in any kind of popular robotic arrangement fromTezuka's MANY versions, Reploids, or whatever


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I dunno about eliminating the gender-related stuff. Having reproduction only possible if it involves theextremely rare female of the species keeps the event from being commonplace, which is sort of whatI'm aiming for.

Female-aspected Transformers are probably a new occurrence in their society, created within the last

Originally Posted by Glaug

There's an actual play plus several threads I posted on TRO about the short BESM3E TFgame I ran. I want to try one with Cartoon Action Hour S2 when I get it, but I was never

fond of 1E.

Originally Posted by Broken

I like that idea, but I'd get rid of the gender-related issues. They're robots; it shouldn'tmatter if their personalities read as being masculine or feminine. It's all about the Spark,baby.







11-03-2008, 12:57 PM

generation or so by Cube Prime. The vast majority of the species probably has never even seen afemale and when first encountering one probably makes most of the male Transformers to experiencea wide array of unusual feelings as their Sparks react to one another--confusion, attraction, curiosity,possibly even jealousy or revulsion.

If any two Transformers could merge and form a new one, then it takes away from one of the themesthat I'm trying to inject into the game--that despite the fact that they've been in existence far longerthan us and their technology and knowledge are much more advanced, we aren't that different. In fact,they're becoming more like us in order to avoid the extinction of the species.

Hence, Babybots. :D


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Oh, I'm stealing from Bay. That's a definite. ;)

BUT...I'm using not ALL of his stuff. I lifted the Cube, but gave it a backstory, whereas Bay left it as aMcGuffin with a mysterious origin that may possibly be explored in the new movies.

The necessity of energon is one (if not the) primary foundations of my idea. Here's what I've come upwith so far for these two plot elements:

The Transformers were originally simple constructs, built by an immense factory-ship known as theCube, which was itself built by Unicron. Unicron is, for all intents and purposes, a Galactus-like entitythat must devour certain, rare worlds rich in an exotic energy form known as energon to continue toexist. The Cube and it's Transformers exist as Unicron's heralds searching the galaxy for planetssuitable for it to consume and converting or “transforming” these worlds to make them palatable forUnicron.

The Transformers originally existed in only two configurations, both of which were barely self-awaredrones that followed the Cube's Program.

The first form was specialized in techno-forming, that is, the building of the titanic planet-sideharvesting machinery needed to extract the energon from the worlds on which it was found. These

robotic creatures were known as Constructicons.

The second form came about after the Cube noted that energon-rich worlds were often populated bylifeforms that could prove to be hindering or even dangerous to the Constructicons. To deal with theseproblems the Cube designed the Combaticons to protect the Constructicons as they labored.

This continued for an unknowable amount of time. Each world posed unique challenges to the Cubeand the Transformers, resulting in the Cube becoming more intelligent, and eventually sapient. Thisallowed the Cube to design and deploy new forms of both Constructicons and Combaticons as theywere needed and to improve upon the older ones as well. The Cube even created a third configurationof Transformer, the Datacons, who served as its researchers, fact-finders, librarians, and personalattendants. Sadly the Cube could make no Transformer wholly sentient like itself.

Ultimately Unicron found that a single Cube and its servitors was insufficient to keep up with its needfor energon. Add to that the fact that the Cube's self-awareness often led it to question Unicron'scommandments or behave in ways that it's creator found frustrating.

To rectify these situations, Unicron commanded the Cube to create more Cubes to aid in the searchand transformation of viable worlds. The Cube did as it was commanded, but could only use its own

Originally Posted by martikhoras

Follow Bey, toss out energon, relate it all to the magic cube. This consolidates macguffinsand such matters. If they need energy you still can use any plot from the old cartoon plus

not have to make it strain disbelief they've decided to ignore the plethora of space bornsources.






base template, which Unicron modified to prevent the new Cube from developing any self-awareness.These sub-Cubes didn't possess the same levels of intelligence, creativity and experience as theirforebear. Cube Prime, as it was known thereafter, sent its creations to the far corners of the galaxy ina carefully planned search pattern to find worlds for their master, with Unicron following in their wake.

The reason that there are only "certain, rare worlds rich in an exotic energy form known as energon"is that a world must be teaming with life. Energon is the refined form of the concentrated lifeforce of an ecology, similar to the Gaia energy from "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." It is the only thing thatcan sustain their Spark and helps to regulate the pseudo-biological nature of their nanotech cellstructures.

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Actually, I'm sort of aiming for some "mystical claptrap" and incorporating some silly matters. :p

I know the limits of my players' suspension of disbelief, and this sort of stuff is will within theparameters. They seem more capable of believing in unseen things like planetary life-force, or giant

robot superheroes that turn into cars, but draw the line at giant robot supervillains that turn intohandguns or tape recorders. *shrugs*

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This pretty much falls in line with what I see. To sustain the coherent nature of their Spark, they need

energon to sustain it.

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Another point I agree on. Something that I saw in regards to TF communications is that amongthemselves they are primarly non-verbal. Then they communicate via short range Spark transmissions.That is also how they identify one another, by the "feel" of each Spark, rather than using mostly visualor aural cues. as well as themselves.

While still maintaining something similar to your identification method, I can also see some of themadopting unusually "naming" conventions, some changing their designation when ever they undergoreformatting or altering their name to better fit in amongst the locals.

For example, an Autobot may call himself "Little Stinger" in Spark-Speak, but upon arrival on Earthfinds a species of flying creature that he takes a shine to, and decides to call himself "Bumblebee."

Another Autobot may have at one time called himself "Admirer of Pleasing Spontaneous PolyrhythmicStellar Emissions", but on Earth refers to himself as Jazz as he finds that he likes that style of music(while utilizing Spark-Speak it doesn't matter, but when speaking verbally, it's much easier to say Jazz.:) )

Tying reproduction to the Cube and other matters makes them sufficiently different and alienwithout the full mystical claptrap of the matrix of leadership or having to make up sillymatters.

Yes there is other organic life but Transformers-who are energy beings who's "souls" aresparks of somehow coherent quantum energy (let us wait as the physicists have their CSImoment) housed in mechanical bodies and thus can die if its lost- tend to have troublerelating to it.

TF have their own culture but its a culture that communicates and relates to matters akin togestalt of computers. when they come to a planet they adopt not just forms but personalitiesand ideas. The ultimate immigrants and assimilatees. They aren't called Transformers, theycall themselves some amount of tone mixed with spins and zeroes and ones just as theirnames are not Optimus Prime (the dude's older than latin) or Megatron. If you wanna divebeneath the veneer, fine, but mainly just accept a transformers ID is slightly different thanhuman.





11-03-2008, 01:02 PM

Others may never change their designation, but roughly translate it to the rough local equivalent.

The Decepticon that is known as "Warrior That Smites the Quintessons with a Coronal Mass Ejection,"may simply translate it as Starscream.

Another dubbed by his followers as "The Transformer Optimally Configured to Bring About theChanges Forseen by the Divine Cube Prime" may simply be called Optimus Prime, even though heprefers to be called "Orion Pax" or its rough translation "The Peaceful Star."

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That's pretty much how I see it. The Decepticons are pretty much a totalitarian regime, ruled by thestrong and charismatic and dissension is not tolerated.

Prime's Autobots believe in freedom and democracy. Being that their ranks consist of a significantnumber of Constructicon and Datacon artisans, thinkers, and servitors, they naturally possess lessmilitary strength than the Decepticons, which are nearly all Combaticons.

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I picture the population of Cybertron is sparse, as most Transformers of the underclass have eitherbeen forced into sleep mode for an indefinite time period or have been falsely charge with treason andexecuted so that the Decepticons have enough energon to survive and fight the War.

Megatron is still active and hunting down Optimus Prime personally to bring him back to Cybertron andbreak him for all to see. Prime is attempting to fight back against the Decepticons, but is primarilyconsidered that his loyal soldiers simply survive.

And somewhere in the cold depths of space, the Quintessons plot and plan how to defeat their ancientfoes.

SamaritanRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

As far as reproduction, you might try to track down Dreamwaves "More Than Meet the Eyes" series, in2 volumes. It's essentially a 'Who's Who' of Transformers, and goes into various aspects of Cybertronian life, etc.

The only known means of creating a new Cybertronian is by infusing the chassis/body with a Spark.That said, apparently, it's possible to do it without the benefit of the Cube Prime (or whatever themachine is called in canon- Vector Prime, I think?). The problem is that there's a certain...randomness... to the procedure in that case- most notably in terms of psychological stability(incidentally, this 'ad hoc' Spark infusion is the pet project of the Deception Shockwave, as he attemptsto make Triple Changers by design rather than accident).

Clones ('twins') happen randomly as well, when the Spark 'splits', and infuses two prepared chassisrather than just one.

Don't know if that helps you out at all, but it's a possible take.

Decepticons dominate to one will, this can manifest in the classic or the recent TFanimatedway (whole like of iconolasts strung along by potent personas). Autobots believe ultimatelyin unity by choice they organize and have leaders but usually they prefer commitee andindividual rights come first. For some reason they also have less firepower, regardless of position. It may be the autobots come from a commoner class or a security protocol. At thevery least Autobots are more about building and utility than warring.

The war has raged for a long time. In the last...turn it became a series of skirmishes withMegatron gone (only his inner circle knew it was for the cube). Cybertron died long ago.There are Transformers assimilated to different societies. They can be in any kind of popular robotic arrangement from Tezuka's MANY versions, Reploids, or whatever





11-03-2008, 01:21 PM

11-03-2008, 05:55 PM

11-03-2008, 09:55 PM


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I had thought about doing something akin to that for twins, like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Maybegiving them a pseudo-spychic connection as well since they share a Spark.

I had also kicked around the idea of Triple Changers and the like being represented mostly be TFs thatwere simply more skilled at manipulating their forms. Sort of a "mutation" if you will.

And I think it's called Vector Sigma. Cube Prime was sort of my spin on it.

jehosephatRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

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So just to be clear, is Prime lying through his...ummm.....faceplate? Since the Transformers arecreated by Unicron in this setting. I guess that would be as good a reason as any for Ultra Magnus tohave doubts about his place in the war effort.

I like the idea of the Dinobots being heretics for taking animal forms for their secondary modes.Though somehow I doubt they get called on it much. Not to their faces anyway. :)

GreenfaunRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

I am LOVING this.

For some reason, the whole Unicron-creating-cubes thing sparked my brain, along with the idea thatEnergon is a mystical phlebotinum sort of thing that only arises on certain planets:

Originally Posted by Samaritan

As far as reproduction, you might try to track down Dreamwaves "More Than Meet the Eyes"series, in 2 volumes. It's essentially a 'Who's Who' of Transformers, and goes into variousaspects of Cybertronian life, etc.

The only known means of creating a new Cybertronian is by infusing the chassis/body with aSpark. That said, apparently, it's possible to do it without the benefit of the Cube Prime (orwhatever the machine is called in canon- Vector Prime, I think?). The problem is that there'sa certain... randomness... to the procedure in that case- most notably in terms of psychological stability (incidentally, this 'ad hoc' Spark infusion is the pet project of theDeception Shockwave, as he attempts to make Triple Changers by design rather thanaccident).

Clones ('twins') happen randomly as well, when the Spark 'splits', and infuses two prepared

chassis rather than just one.

Don't know if that helps you out at all, but it's a possible take.


The Autobots were formed and are led by the former Decepticon Commander OptimusPrime, who himself claims that he has been charged by the Machine God Primus with

freeing his fellow Transformers from the yoke of Decepticon tyranny and protecting otherspecies from becoming victims of the Decepticon's predations and the War in general.







11-04-2008, 12:22 AM

What if Unicron doesn't just eat worlds for energy, but also to prevent them from becoming planet-mind god-things like itself?

What if the process of evolution on Energon-producing worlds leads inexorably through biological life,civilization, information networking, and technological life to a single planet-wide gestaltconsciousness, infused with so much Energon that it has reality-altering powers? (Yes, evolution doesnot work that way. Shh. It's cool.)

What if Unicron is the first world on which this happened?

What if Unicron thinks one is enough?

What if the Cubes and Transformers are all part of Unicron's plan to "bleed off" Energon frompotentially threatening planets, so he can eat them at his leisure, instead of rushing around trying tocatch every Energon-producing world before it Ascends all by himself like a big game of intergalacticwhack-a-mole?

What if Cybertron was an experiment by the Autobots, in which they tried to cultivate progress in aworld to encourage it to Ascend before Unicron ate it?

What if they almost made it?

What if they want to try it again, with Earth?


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One of the aspects of the setting that I hope to successful establish is that the truth of whether or notPrime truly is the Transformers' equivalent of a messiah is a matter of great debate amongst the Autobots (and the civilian TFs back on Cybertron).

He possess the the Matrix of Leadership, which is highly unusual, as previously there was only one andMegatron has it. The Matrix in my setting can't create new Transformers, but it does act as arepository for the recorded memories of past Transformer leaders.

Prime's possession of the Matrix leads most Autobots to believe him whole-heartedly and regard himas their deliverer and savior. Others that think HE THINKS he's the chosen of Primus and regard him asbeing either slightly eccentric or bordering on dangerously deranged. Some think that he made it allup, making a fake Matrix and a grandiose story to try and rally an army behind him.

So yes, there are some doubts about whether he is truly is the Transfomers' Messiah and the War ingeneral.

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To clarify, it's not just the taking of animal forms that makes them heretics. There are plenty of loyaland valued Decepticons with bestial alt-modes...Ravage, Laser Beak, Scorpinok just to name a few.

It's denying the Prime Directive and the commandments of Lord Megatron that gets them that. I seethe Dinobots as sort of the ultimate eco-terrorists. They like the savage, untamed aspects of nature

Originally Posted by jehosephat

So just to be clear, is Prime lying through his...ummm.....faceplate? Since the Transformers

are created by Unicron in this setting. I guess that would be as good a reason as any forUltra Magnus to have doubts about his place in the war effort.

I like the idea of the Dinobots being heretics for taking animal forms for their secondarymodes. Though somehow I doubt they get called on it much. Not to their faces anyway. :)






11-04-2008, 12:47 AM

and refuse to destroy it.

And pity the poor Decepticon that ever tries to capture them for trial. :D


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Glad to hear it. :)

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...

:eek:

...

I must say that you've brought up some very interesting ideas. (And thank you for that!)

One of the deals with Unicron in my setting is that it has been out of the picture for a loooooooooongtime. It left Cube Prime for feeding grounds on the other side of the galaxy around one or two million

years ago, well before the Transformers achieved their current level of sapience.

There are that few if any know any factual information about it. Unicron is regarded as their equivalentof Satan or Angra Mainyu...an evil force that embodies misery and destruction. There are also tales of how it claims the Sparks of evil or heretical Transformers after they are terminated.

Originally Posted by Greenfaun

I am LOVING this.

For some reason, the whole Unicron-creating-cubes thing sparked my brain, along with theidea that Energon is a mystical phlebotinum sort of thing that only arises on certain planets:

What if Unicron doesn't just eat worlds for energy, but also to prevent them from becomingplanet-mind god-things like itself?

What if the process of evolution on Energon-producing worlds leads inexorably throughbiological life, civilization, information networking, and technological life to a single planet-wide gestalt consciousness, infused with so much Energon that it has reality-alteringpowers? (Yes, evolution does not work that way. Shh. It's cool.)

What if Unicron is the first world on which this happened?

What if Unicron thinks one is enough?

What if the Cubes and Transformers are all part of Unicron's plan to "bleed off" Energonfrom potentially threatening planets, so he can eat them at his leisure, instead of rushingaround trying to catch every Energon-producing world before it Ascends all by himself like abig game of intergalactic whack-a-mole?

What if Cybertron was an experiment by the Autobots, in which they tried to cultivateprogress in a world to encourage it to Ascend before Unicron ate it?


What if they want to try it again, with Earth?






11-04-2008, 03:29 AM

11-04-2008, 09:07 AM

Even other the few other species that managed to survive the destruction of their homeworlds byUnicron tend to blame the Transformers for their loss. Most regard the immense Unicron as some sortof giant-moon sized ship.

While I originally thought that Unicron feeds on these worlds merely to preserve its own existence. likeMarvel Comics' character Galactus, I must say that some of your ideas are making me rethink mysimplistic approach. They give Unicron much more of a villainous aspect, rather than just being aplanet eater because it has no choice.

Kudos again! :D

NahualtRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

This is very good stuff, just posting to subscribe. :D


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Thanks! It was just a flash of inspiration, and I thought I should share. Besides, I'm not going to berunning a game like this anytime soon, or ever, probably, and the idea should be out there in casesomeone wants to use it.

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Hey, that works too. He's still plenty scary without the evil/jealous/paranoid planetkiller angle. I justlike the idea of Unicron acting like Cronus and eating any possible threat before it can fully develop. It'smythological. Also it explains how he can act so much like a life-form but there aren't any babyunicronlets running around. His paranoia makes him actively prevent his equivalent of reproduction.

It also has interesting implications for the Autobots' motivations, if you think about it. Instead of being"good guys" for the usual reasons, their benevolent acts are merely a means to an end. They wanttechnology to advance as rapidly as possible, so they try to prevent large-scale war or ecologicaldamage (or planetary enslavement by Decepticons) because it would retard progress. So while in theshort term, it seems like they're helping humanity, really they're just doing whatever gets life on Earthto the next stage as fast as possible. This allows for a broader spectrum of attitudes toward humansamong the Autobots. Even though they all fight and die to protect humanity from the Decepticons,some (like Bumblebee) genuinely like them and have human friends, but others are frustrated andwish the little monkeys would hurry up and get a clue.

Like before, just an idea, if it doesn't fit with what you want then don't give it a second's thought, I just

thought it was an interesting way to have Autobots that are benevolent but still jerks. :)

Thanks again for this thread. I had no idea I had all these deep thoughts about transforming robotswaiting to bubble up from the geeky geeky depths of my brain. :)


I must say that you've brought up some very interesting ideas. (And thank you for that!)


While I originally thought that Unicron feeds on these worlds merely to preserve its ownexistence. like Marvel Comics' character Galactus, I must say that some of your ideas aremaking me rethink my simplistic approach. They give Unicron much more of a villainousaspect, rather than just being a planet eater because it has no choice.







11-04-2008, 12:13 PM Vlad BasarabRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

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Glad you're enjoying it! If the thread inspires some ideas or thoughts, please post them. :)

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Well, I think your flashes are brilliant. :cool:

Hopefully my groups' individual work schedules/obligations will stabilize soon so we can get started.

So far, only one of my players has given me one concrete idea for a character...an AutobotCommunication Officer whose alt form is one of those television remote broadcasting vans. He picturesthis character monitoring various T.V. and radio transmission looking for signs of Decepticon activity,but ultimately getting hooked on various T.V. programs. He also pitched the idea of his human contactsbeing a news team consisting young fresh-faced female field reporter and an equally youngcameraman/tech(as well as possibly being an amateur UFO investigator/ conspiracy theorist).

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I think I'll keep my players in the dark about it if I use the whole "Unicron devours worlds before theybecome like it" angle. I may let those that believe in Unicron think that it's merely eating worlds tosurvive.

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I like this angle too. Most of the Autobots (Optimus Prime included) just feel that they're "fighting thegood fight," protecting less-developed species from enslavement or extinction at the hands

Originally Posted by Nahualt

This is very good stuff, just posting to subscribe. :D


Thanks! It was just a flash of inspiration, and I thought I should share. Besides, I'm notgoing to be running a game like this anytime soon, or ever, probably, and the idea should beout there in case someone wants to use it.

Hey, that works too. He's still plenty scary without the evil/jealous/paranoid planetkillerangle. I just like the idea of Unicron acting like Cronus and eating any possible threat beforeit can fully develop. It's mythological. Also it explains how he can act so much like a life-formbut there aren't any baby unicronlets running around. His paranoia makes him activelyprevent his equivalent of reproduction.

It also has interesting implications for the Autobots' motivations, if you think about it. Insteadof being "good guys" for the usual reasons, their benevolent acts are merely a means to anend. They want technology to advance as rapidly as possible, so they try to prevent large-scale war or ecological damage (or planetary enslavement by Decepticons) because it wouldretard progress. So while in the short term, it seems like they're helping humanity, reallythey're just doing whatever gets life on Earth to the next stage as fast as possible. Thisallows for a broader spectrum of attitudes toward humans among the Autobots. Eventhough they all fight and die to protect humanity from the Decepticons, some (likeBumblebee) genuinely like them and have human friends, but others are frustrated and wishthe little monkeys would hurry up and get a clue.







11-04-2008, 01:35 PM

Decepticons. Some of the Datacons Autobots like Perceptor may be privy to this information, but aredisinclined to share it.

It also could bring in some regarding what happens to individuality when information sharing betweenbeings reaches a point where it they may become like a hive mind. This jibes nicely with some of thestuff I've come up with for the Quintessons:

The Quintessons are the oldest and most implacable foes of the Transformers. They began as anadvanced race of pentapedal radial arthropods (Inspired by this picture ) and had long ago begun theprocess of artificially evolving themselves into what they dubbed as a "Trans-Organic” state of being,replacing the organic flesh of their bodies with more durable inorganic machinery. To match theperfection of their new bodies, they sought to also eliminate any strife and or conflict within theirsociety by erasing their individuality and uniqueness through the creation of an artificial hive-mind thatmanifested as five distinct thought-form constructs that would rule over their society.

The Quintessons knew of the Transformers (possibly Unicron, as well) and of their purpose and did nottake kindly to the thought of their homeworld being stripped of its precious energon, which theythemselves needed for survival.

The Quintessons possessed technology that was far more advanced than what the Transformers wereused to dealing with and their vast army of drone warriors gave them numerical superiority.

This lead to a brutal war that forever changed both species. In the end, the Quintessons' ultimately losttheir homeworld and were forced to hide amongst the stars while they slowly rebuilt their forces. Andthe Transformers' Combaticons had learned a valuable new strategy...victory won primarily throughdeception.

So that idea of the Quintessons evolving themselves into an overmind dovetails nicely with some of theideas you presented. The spin that I put on them puts them on the track of being the next Unicron-typeof being, or would have had the Transformers not handed their pseudopods to them.

Quote:

Oh, I like the idea of the Autobots not all being nice guys. Being strong-willed, opinionated, and fiercelyindependent sometimes makes a person downright unpleasant, even if they have good intentions.

Quote:

Tell me about it. I love going back and re-imaging the old toys/comics/cartoons of my childhood.

You should see some of the stuff I came up with when I re-invented the old Masters of the Universestuff with a Robert E. Howard "Conan" & Edgar Rice Burroughs "John Carter of Mars" spin on it. :eek:

Darth FanboyRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

I must say, I'm liking the spark speak names. It puts me strongly in mind of Exalted.

Six Magnificant Striking Forms (Sixshot) is the latest abberation to emerge from the sectors controled

by Creator of the Future (Jhiaxus). With resources dwindling and the numbers of usable sparks heavilyrestricted Creator of the Future has become obsessed with pushing Transformer life to its extremes,and with results like this few Decepticon field commanders are willing to complain.

Like before, just an idea, if it doesn't fit with what you want then don't give it a second's

thought, I just thought it was an interesting way to have Autobots that are benevolent butstill jerks. :)

Thanks again for this thread. I had no idea I had all these deep thoughts about transformingrobots waiting to bubble up from the geeky geeky depths of my brain. :)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/cichlid60/MIRE/Pentapod2007LukeSaunders.jpg





11-04-2008, 02:58 PM

11-04-2008, 06:40 PM

11-04-2008, 09:34 PM

11-05-2008, 10:53 AM

Tim Kirk Re: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

I've been planning a Transformers game using the basic stats outlined on the card backs of Transformer Toys to create the "base" statistic for CAH Season 2. (So far we've discovered you can"add 5" to a CAH stat to get its profile, or remove 5 from a Tech Spec to get its "base" rating in CAH.)

Our idea (mine and a friends who con concocting this with me) is different, significantly. We're doing afar future of dystopian machines and near extinct humans, one rogue A.I travels back through time toassist humanity in thwarting that dark fate. The A.I uses its abilities to hack early Autofactories (robotcontrolled automobile plants) to produce the Autobots, while another A.I wanting to ensure the dark fate of humanity has come back inside its housing--a submarine and terrordrone factory unit. It plansto use numbers of mindless robots to oppose the Autobots, but eventually it will need to create fieldcommanders with SOME sentience. (This all has a tie to Transformers mythos that I can't talk about,but it makes it open for gaming without being overshadowed by the series characters.)


Quote:

Okay, you just sold me on CAH Season 2, combining this with the "49 point tech spec" rule from an oldboard I was once on should lead to easy TF character gen. Now for somewhere in the UK to stock it...

A Letter From PragueRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Somewhere I have a writeup of a pre-Beast Wars game idea that was really about Transformers asmetaphors for human-applied biotechnology and the identity issues that emerged from them. Therewere these awesome little truck-wheel-gestalts based on the rhyming dude from the movie (Wheelie)?


Quote:

I found the following the following Tech Spec to CAH 1st Edition conversion rules last year when firstkicking the idea around (if I remember correctly, I think they were by Eddy Webb himself, but I may be

wrong).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Kirk

I've been planning a Transformers game using the basic stats outlined on the card backs of Transformer Toys to create the "base" statistic for CAH Season 2. (So far we've discoveredyou can "add 5" to a CAH stat to get its profile, or remove 5 from a Tech Spec to get its"base" rating in CAH.)

Originally Posted by Tim Kirk

I've been planning a Transformers game using the basic stats outlined on the card backs of Transformer Toys to create the "base" statistic for CAH Season 2. (So far we've discoveredyou can "add 5" to a CAH stat to get its profile, or remove 5 from a Tech Spec to get its"base" rating in CAH.)







11-05-2008, 10:55 AM

Although this is incredibly useful, I won't be doing a straight conversion of the Tech Spec to make thecharacters. Many of the Tech Specs are a bit padded in order to make some of the characters a bitmore powerful than they should be, which I think makes some of the results a bit wonky.

For instance if Speed converts to Vehicle Speed then Optimus Prime (Tech Spec Speed 8, CAH VehicleSpeed 4(3)) can move at a few hundred miles an hour in semi-truck form and is almost as fast asStarscream (Tech Spec Speed 9, CAH Vehicle Speed 4(4)) in his jet mode. :eek:

Quote:

That's a cool idea and is a bit reminiscent of a Terminator-esque game of WasteWorld that I ran a fewyears back.


Quote:

Table 1: Tech Spec to Trait Rating

Tech Spec ........... Trait Rating..... 1 ........................ -1 ........... 2 ........................ 0 ........... 3 ........................ 1 ........... 4 ........................ 2 ........... 5 ........................ 3 ........... 6 ........................ 4 ......

..... 7 ...................... 4(2) ....

..... 8 ...................... 4(3) ....

..... 9 ...................... 4(4) ....

.... 10 ..................... 4(5) ....

Table 2: Tech Spec Conversion Formula

Strength: Body (Use Table 1)Intelligence: CP's for Mental Traits (Intelligence Rating x4)Speed: Vehicle Trait Speed (Use Table 1)Endurance: Vehicle Trait Armor (Use Table 1)Rank: Oomph (Rank divided by 2), Stunt Points (1=0, 2-5=1, 6-9=2, 10=3)

Courage: Willpower (Use Table 1)Firepower: DR of main weapon (DR+2 for ranged, DR+Body for melee)Skill: CP's for Physical Traits, except Body (Skill Rating x4)

Our idea (mine and a friends who con concocting this with me) is different, significantly.We're doing a far future of dystopian machines and near extinct humans, one rogue A.Itravels back through time to assist humanity in thwarting that dark fate. The A.I uses itsabilities to hack early Autofactories (robot controlled automobile plants) to produce the Autobots, while another A.I wanting to ensure the dark fate of humanity has come back inside its housing--a submarine and terrordrone factory unit. It plans to use numbers of mindless robots to oppose the Autobots, but eventually it will need to create fieldcommanders with SOME sentience. (This all has a tie to Transformers mythos that I can'ttalk about, but it makes it open for gaming without being overshadowed by the series

characters.)


Okay, you just sold me on CAH Season 2, combining this with the "49 point tech spec" rulefrom an old board I was once on should lead to easy TF character gen. Now for somewherein the UK to stock it...






11-05-2008, 01:02 PM

11-05-2008, 01:17 PM

I only wish I had the spare cash for the PDF :(

I will probably pickup the Dead Tree Edition that will eventually be coming out. I think it's going to bePOD.

lisieckiRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

Hey, Ill try to help, although im only like a mid level transformer fan.First things first, In G1 cannon, to the best of my knowledge nearly all of the transformers werecreated at the same time. I believe that the Dionbots are the only "new" transformers.

Quote:

Combiners (or at least Devastator) can only do things that all the componet robots agree on although ithink that the dominate personality

C'mon RPG.net, I know you can do it, 'cause..."You got the touch. You got the poweeeeeeeeeer!"[/QUOTE]

On thing to keep in mind, is that all the transfromers have individual reasions for being on the factionthere on.

O Prime beleve in freedomMirage is there because, he just kinda ended up there

Cliffjumper is an asshole Cliffjumper utterly hates the Decepticons. He also hates traitors. And anybody

could be a traitor. Therefore, Cliffjumper hates everybody. It's unclear if he hates traitors more thanhe hates Decepticons, but it's at least a neck-and-neck thing.

Im fairly sure that Grimlock is on the team, mostly because the 'Cons are more fun to beatup on thanthe 'Bots

lisieckiRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:


Sounds cool to me, like a less horrible version of Wraith.So now it comes down to the fact that I turn to any Transformers fans out there to possiblythrow some ideas out there.Some strange riffing off of some of the ideas in the canon would be much appreciated. Stuff like...Can male and female Transformers "merge" to form a bouncing baby bot? :eek:


Should gestalt-form Transfomers like Bruticus or Devastator be possible? If they are, is thegestalt the core personality, with its Spark split up amongst its component members?

Originally Posted by jehosephat

So just to be clear, is Prime lying through his...ummm.....faceplate? Since the Transformersare created by Unicron in this setting. I guess that would be as good a reason as any forUltra Magnus to have doubts about his place in the war effort.








11-06-2008, 07:37 AM

11-06-2008, 08:49 AM

11-06-2008, 08:54 AM

11-06-2008, 09:43 AM

Or Unicron created him as a pawn to be his foil.There are multiple contuinitys.Generation one, two, beastwars.Universe: that had Armada, Energon, and CybertronThe movie AnimatedI know im missing some. All those worlds and megatron and Prime keep occurring, keep coming back and fighting unicron.While the Megatron and Prime in each reality are distinct and unique beings. There is only oneUnicron, who travels from reality to reality.What if Unicron destroyed every other reality.He created these autobots in the image of the ones hes fought before, because he was board.Prime knows this, hes programed to teach the Transfromers of this reality how to fight, so that Unicroncan have something to do.However, he created prime to well. Deep down in his spark, Prime is trying to warn the transformersof this reality, Bot and Con alike.while he can't tell them directly whats going on, he sends them on a series of missions desgined topoint them towards the truth.

EddyFateRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

Wow. I haven't seen that in YEARS. Yeah, I wrote that up, but IIRC I didn't really expect people to do astraight port. Honestly, the Tech Specs are CRAZY, and any attempt to do a direct conversion for

anything pretty much ends up with wackiness, so it's better used as an inspirational tool anyhow.

I just got a copy of CAH:S2 a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to read it, but I'm really interestedto see how someone runs a Transformers game in either version of CAH!

Doctor,WildstormRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Er, what exactly is energon?


I came up with a slightly different conversion system when I last ran a Transformers CAH game. It's inthe archive somewhere, but if there's interest, I'll dig it up.


Quote:

The Transformers' "preferred" form of energy, it exists in one form or another in almost every TF


I found the following the following Tech Spec to CAH 1st Edition conversion rules last yearwhen first kicking the idea around (if I remember correctly, I think they were by Eddy Webbhimself, but I may be wrong).

Originally Posted by Doctor,Wildstorm








11-06-2008, 11:42 AM

11-06-2008, 12:45 PM

continuity. Basically anything else that contains energy, such as fossil fuels etc can be converted intoEnergon, which either forms "cubes" or a liquid form, IIRc.


Quote:

Well, they have been helpful in an inspirational sense at least, so for that, thank you. :)

And I do agree about the Tech Specs. Many of the ratings in them are downright silly, but they may bean all right gauge of a Transformer's relative statistics.

I'll most likely outright ignore most of the established Spec ratings, as I'm going to be doing my ownvisions of the characters, and they'd be useless anyway.

Quote:

I'm hoping to regularly post the game as an Actual Play thread once it gets started, so you can check itout whenever you like. :)

Quote:

Please do. I always like to see other peep's approaches to things like game rules or setting ideas.Hence the thread. :D


Here's the conversion method that I used for a con game I ran last year. I was tempted to go with asimple system such as was posted earlier, but I felt it led to too many super ratings when using majorcharacters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EddyFate

Wow. I haven't seen that in YEARS. Yeah, I wrote that up, but IIRC I didn't really expectpeople to do a straight port. Honestly, the Tech Specs are CRAZY, and any attempt to do adirect conversion for anything pretty much ends up with wackiness, so it's better used as aninspirational tool anyhow.

I just got a copy of CAH:S2 a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to read it, but I'm reallyinterested to see how someone runs a Transformers game in either version of CAH!

Originally Posted by Knarf

I came up with a slightly different conversion system when I last ran a Transformers CAHgame. It's in the archive somewhere, but if there's interest, I'll dig it up.

Speed

TF CAH12 -1345







Here's an example of a character converted using this system.

Quote:

6 4789 4(2)10 4(4)

Body = TF Strength + Endurance / 2

Armor = TF Endurance / 2

Willpower = TF Courage / 2

Oomph = Rank / 2Stunt Points = Rank / 3

(Combat Skill) = TF Skill - 5

Firepower

TF Firepower = DR for Offensive SAs

Intelligence

TF Intelligence-5 = Level of character appropraite traits

Athletics = TF Speed -5

Kup

“Crusty Veteran”

Oomph: 4 [8] Stunt Points: 2 [6]Hurt Points: 45 Size: Very Large

Story HooksEverything always reminds him of something - Minor

Traits

Armor 4, Athletics 1 , Body 4, Ranged Combat 3, Speed 4, Willpower 4, Perception 2 [44]

Special Abilities

Musket Laser (OSA; Power Level: Medium [4])Kup carries a trusty musket laser from one of his early campaignsDR 6+2 [8]Range: Medium [2]Restriction: Item [-2]Total Cost: 12

Transformation (TSA; Power Level: None)Cybertronian Pickup Form

Mode of Travel: Land [2]Size: Very LargeCapacity: 2 enclosed [2] VDM: 16Total Cost: 4 (4 SCP)





11-06-2008, 12:55 PM

And his original specs

Quote:


Quote:

Quote:

Glaug pretty much nailed it. In most of the old Transformer continuities, it was the end result of theTransformer's refinement of any existing form of energy resource that humans used--fossil fuels,electricity derived from nuclear, solar, geothermal or hydroelectric production methods, and evensteam. In some continuities it is a uniquely occuring element. A more indepth explanation can be foundat the Transformers Wiki.

As martikhoras stated earlier in the thread, it was the primary McGuffin of why the Decepticons stayedon Earth after crashing on Earth. And as martikhoras also stated, it doesn't make much sense. Thecommonly occurring elements on Earth that allow for energon production can be found all over thegalaxy. Why wouldn't the Decepticons set up emmense solar collection arrays around a star or

geothermal taps on uninhabited worlds to make energon rather than try and set up shop on somebackwater planet crawling with Autobots and their annoying fleshling allies? (Because there's no dramain that, is why. :p )

So to rectify that, I decided that in my setting energon is Energon is the refined form of theconcentrated lifeforce or psychic energy of a densely populated biosphere. (It is similar to the ideaspostulated in the movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" about all the life from microbes to animalsforming a planetary spirit that FF called Gaia energy.) Worlds with more evolved lifeforms (like sapientbeings)tend to possess more potent energon than worlds were life has only developed into non-sapientmicrobes, fungi, plants, and/or animals.

Transformers need it to survive because it is the only thing that can sustain their Sparks and helps toregulate the pseudo-biological nature of their nanotech cell structures. Without it, they'll starve, grow

weak, go into stasis lock when they no longer have enough energy to keep their heuristic processoractive, and eventually "die" when their Spark no longer has enough power to remain separate fromeither the All Spark or one of the Matrices of Leadership and returns to them.

So the last world within traveling distance of the warring forces of the Decepticons and Autobots thathas anything more than a shred of potential energon left is Earth. It was discovered by a team of

Kup is an old veteran warhorse with a thousand tall tales from his ten thousand adventures.He has a motto or word of advice for any situation and he's as brave and loyal as theycome. In robot mode, he carries an old-style musket laser that shoots short bursts of metalcorrosive hydrochloric acid. Range: 5 miles. Speed: 100mph. Kup sees himself as aseasoned campaigner with more knowledge and experience to share. Other Autobots aren'talways receptive to his advice.

Strength 9, Intelligence 7, Speed 6, Endurance 9, Rank 8, Courage 9, Firepower 6, Skill 8

Originally Posted by Doctor,Wildstorm



The Transformers' "preferred" form of energy, it exists in one form or another in almostevery TF continuity. Basically anything else that contains energy, such as fossil fuels etc canbe converted into Energon, which either forms "cubes" or a liquid form, IIRc.



http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Energon_%28G1%29





11-06-2008, 01:25 PM

Autobot scouts (the PCs) within the last couple of years and recently a team of Decepticon scouts havelearned of its existence and are enroute to survey and determine their plans for it.

Since this is a fresh, untapped world, one of the last capable of substantial energon production, andmost of the "civilian" population of Cybertron has been placed in controlled stasis lock so that they'reDecepticon masters can have enough energon to combat the Autobots, the plans for Earth will mostlikely be far different than previous harvesting operations.

This time around, the Decepticons, rather than following their standard plan of wiping out the primarynative threats and forcing their constructicon subordinates to techno-form the world, they are going totry their hands at conservation.They will make sure as much of the higher native lifeforms continues exist as possible.

At best, this may mean that humans will simply be conquered and enslaved, forced to labor at thebehest of their conquerors. This would allow the Decepticons to keep most of their constructiconsubordinates on Cybertron in stasis lock as they will have a native labor force (and meaning that theDecepticons can keep all of the energon to themselves).

At worst, humanity may end up as it did in the Matrix--their comatose bodies being entombed in vastenergon-siphoning towers while they're active minds are trapped within a carefully maintained virtualcommunal thought construct, ensuring a constant flow of energon. :eek:


Quote:

Hmm...that looks pretty good. As you said, it does minimize some of the super ratings, which is good if you're planning on using only Transformers, as it give you a wider range of ability levels.

This enables situations where characters like Optimus Prime that are supposed to to be significantlystronger than characters like Bumblebee, to actually be so, rather than only having a Body Rating thatis a couple of points higher.

Of course CAH sort of uses a micro-scale as it is, where a point or two is supposed to be vastlydifferent. And you can always broaden the scale if you want to.

One feature of the game that I'd like to incorporate is that the players also have alternate charactersthat are the allies of another players Transformer character, so I may need to allow most of the Autobot PCs to have some super ratings. Kind of like things were done in the Metal Wars series book for CAH with its human characters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knarf

Here's the conversion method that I used for a con game I ran last year. I was tempted togo with a simple system such as was posted earlier, but I felt it led to too many superratings when using major characters.

Here's an example of a character converted using this system.

Kup “Crusty Veteran”

Oomph: 4 [8] Stunt Points: 2 [6]Hurt Points: 45 Size: Very Large

Story HooksEverything always reminds him of something - Minor






11-06-2008, 01:28 PM

Looks good. That's how I'd envision that crusty old fart, err, backfire. :p

Quote:

This goes back to my previous post about how unreliable the Tech Specs can be for actual conversion.I just don't see Kup being almost as strong as Optimus Prime, or for that matter, Omega Supreme.

For that matter, I'm not sure I'd make Prime nearly as strong Supreme. I mean Prime's awesome andall, but OS turns into a damn mini fortress!


Quote:

I think you just gave me a one-shot to run for my old group if I get the chance to see them at theweekend. Thankyou, sir. :D

Traits

Armor 4, Athletics 1 , Body 4, Ranged Combat 3, Speed 4, Willpower 4, Perception 2 [44]

Special Abilities

Musket Laser (OSA; Power Level: Medium [4])Kup carries a trusty musket laser from one of his early campaignsDR 6+2 [8]

Range: Medium [2]Restriction: Item [-2]Total Cost: 12

Transformation (TSA; Power Level: None)Cybertronian Pickup FormMode of Travel: Land [2]Size: Very LargeCapacity: 2 enclosed [2] VDM: 16

Total Cost: 4 (4 SCP)

And his original specs

Kup is an old veteran warhorse with a thousand tall tales from his ten thousand adventures.He has a motto or word of advice for any situation and he's as brave and loyal as theycome. In robot mode, he carries an old-style musket laser that shoots short bursts of metalcorrosive hydrochloric acid. Range: 5 miles. Speed: 100mph. Kup sees himself as aseasoned campaigner with more knowledge and experience to share. Other Autobots aren't

always receptive to his advice.

Strength 9, Intelligence 7, Speed 6, Endurance 9, Rank 8, Courage 9, Firepower 6, Skill 8


At worst, humanity may end up as it did in the Matrix--their comatose bodies beingentombed in vast energon-siphoning towers while they're active minds are trapped within acarefully maintained virtual communal thought construct, ensuring a constant flow of energon. :eek:






11-06-2008, 01:42 PMmartikhorasRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:


Glaug pretty much nailed it. In most of the old Transformer continuities, it was the endresult of the Transformer's refinement of any existing form of energy resource that humansused--fossil fuels, electricity derived from nuclear, solar, geothermal or hydroelectricproduction methods, and even steam. In some continuities it is a uniquely occuring element. A more indepth explanation can be found at the Transformers Wiki.

As martikhoras stated earlier in the thread, it was the primary McGuffin of why theDecepticons stayed on Earth after crashing on Earth. And as martikhoras also stated, itdoesn't make much sense. The commonly occurring elements on Earth that allow forenergon production can be found all over the galaxy. Why wouldn't the Decepticons set upemmense solar collection arrays around a star or geothermal taps on uninhabited worlds tomake energon rather than try and set up shop on some backwater planet crawling with Autobots and their annoying fleshling allies? (Because there's no drama in that, is why. :p )

So to rectify that, I decided that in my setting energon is Energon is the refined form of theconcentrated lifeforce or psychic energy of a densely populated biosphere. (It is similar tothe ideas postulated in the movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" about all the life frommicrobes to animals forming a planetary spirit that FF called Gaia energy.) Worlds withmore evolved lifeforms (like sapient beings)tend to possess more potent energon thanworlds were life has only developed into non-sapient microbes, fungi, plants, and/oranimals.

Transformers need it to survive because it is the only thing that can sustain their Sparks andhelps to regulate the pseudo-biological nature of their nanotech cell structures. Without it,they'll starve, grow weak, go into stasis lock when they no longer have enough energy to

keep their heuristic processor active, and eventually "die" when their Spark no longer hasenough power to remain separate from either the All Spark or one of the Matrices of Leadership and returns to them.

So the last world within traveling distance of the warring forces of the Decepticons and Autobots that has anything more than a shred of potential energon left is Earth. It wasdiscovered by a team of Autobot scouts (the PCs) within the last couple of years andrecently a team of Decepticon scouts have learned of its existence and are enroute to surveyand determine their plans for it.

Since this is a fresh, untapped world, one of the last capable of substantial energonproduction, and most of the "civilian" population of Cybertron has been placed in controlled

stasis lock so that they're Decepticon masters can have enough energon to combat the Autobots, the plans for Earth will most likely be far different than previous harvestingoperations.

This time around, the Decepticons, rather than following their standard plan of wiping outthe primary native threats and forcing their constructicon subordinates to techno-form theworld, they are going to try their hands at conservation.They will make sure as much of the higher native lifeforms continues exist as possible.

At best, this may mean that humans will simply be conquered and enslaved, forced to laborat the behest of their conquerors. This would allow the Decepticons to keep most of theirconstructicon subordinates on Cybertron in stasis lock as they will have a native labor force

(and meaning that the Decepticons can keep all of the energon to themselves).

At worst, humanity may end up as it did in the Matrix--their comatose bodies beingentombed in vast energon-siphoning towers while they're active minds are trapped within acarefully maintained virtual communal thought construct, ensuring a constant flow of

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Energon_%28G1%29






11-06-2008, 02:07 PM

11-06-2008, 03:23 PM

I don't wanna harp on it too much because this is an excellent setting but I just don't think that'snecessary. We have a reason for the TFs to come to earth. They can easily be stuck there and sincethe Decepticons may be "lazy" we can use any energon stealing scheme common in the cartoon orotherwise that they would use instead of Solar Arrays and what not. We can even keep energon as arefinement and containment of energy Transformers need ( wild aside: and their starvation the onlyway they can truly die in complete contradiction to my earlier post if you want things more G1 where

death came hard to a TF as to the movie and Beast Wars where it was an ever looming threat).Making it central as to a magic cube just seems.. I don't know less plausible than a magic primordialcube. Though I am weird like that and believe The Cube was a major stroke of updating genius so wedon't have beings that have supspace pockets and fire off antimatter getting in slug fights over hydro-electric dams.


Quote:

*Tips hat.* Not a problem. :cool:


Quote:

Bah...harp away if you want. If what you post doesn't meet with my vision, I'll just ignore it. :p ;) Youlike the Bay Cube, and I do too...to an extent.

Like Bay, I see it as an immense construct, but much larger than what he portrayed. Large like "that's

no moon...it's a space station" large. OK, maybe a tad smaller than that, but it easily dwarfs what Bayshowed. Maybe 50 miles on a side? It was originally a factory ship/operations base for a species of interstellar, inorganic locusts ranging in possible sizes from a few inches to a hundred feet in height.Some may be even bigger (or smaller).

That's not to say that Cube Prime couldn't have shed most of its components that it consideredunessential to it new state of being. I can easily see Cube Prime existing as an entity like VectorSigma, something not unlike a giant computer/Spark repository.

Quote:

If beings like them were "stuck," I doubt that it would be a long-term concern, except by perhaps a tinygroup of Transformers. Even those not capable of leaving under their own power most likely could

energon. :eek:


I think you just gave me a one-shot to run for my old group if I get the chance to see themat the weekend. Thankyou, sir. :D


I don't wanna harp on it too much because this is an excellent setting but I just don't think that's necessary. We have a reason for the TFs to come to earth.

They can easily be stuck there and since the Decepticons may be "lazy" we can use any

energon stealing scheme common in the cartoon or otherwise that they would use insteadof Solar Arrays and what not.







11-06-2008, 06:37 PM

construct a vessel. Especially on a world as heavily industrialized as Earth.

And regarding the subject of potential Decepticon sloth: That was the reasoning behind why, if energon were simply refined electrical/heat energy, would the Decepticons go to all the effort of dealing with hostile natives and the hardship of adapting to a new planet? It would be much less effortto set up collectors around stars than deal with all those pesky fleshlings

Quote:

Which is the sort of thing I'm aiming for with this version of the Transfomers. Granted it does take itinto a more mystical and woogy-woogy direction, but I see those TFs that believe in that sort of thingregarding their Spark as simply a more coherent expression of the soul. Eons of sucking the life forceof planets first imbued Cube Prime with the All-Spark, and then the All Spark split most of itself up intothousands (maybe millions) of individual Sparks and thus were the modern Transfomers born.

But a Spark, like most forms of energy, cannot survive for long in a vacuum. Even stars burn out. Andseparated from the ever-present web of life force that birthed it by residing in the shell of Transformer, a Spark will eventually fade to the point where it rejoins the All Spark.

Energon prevents this. Energon nourishes a Spark. Energon makes it brighter. Energon makes itstronger. It is the single most important thing for a Transformer. Small amounts will maintain a Spark.Large amount will change a Spark, much as it did with Cub Prime, the Great Progenitor.

Remember you well this Most Holy Commandment of Lord Megatron given unto every Transformer:

"The Energon Must Flow."

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It's simply a matter of perspective my friend. You see my version it as implausable, just as I see theBay version being a bit flimsy. It's ok. Really. :)

Quote:

Yeah, at least we both agree on the minimalizing of the outright stinky cheese factors.

Not pulling out the big guns when fighting over valuable (and fragile) resources, thusly giving us anexcuse for awesome vibroblade vs. shockmace duels = Yes.

A 35 foot tall engine of awesome destruction mass-shifting into an anti-climatic and silly alt-form like acellphone = NO! ;)

VargenRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

We can even keep energon as a refinement and containment of energy Transformers need (wild aside: and their starvation the only way they can truly die in complete contradiction to

my earlier post if you want things more G1 where death came hard to a TF as to the movieand Beast Wars where it was an ever looming threat).

Making it central as to a magic cube just seems.. I don't know less plausible than a magicprimordial cube.

Though I am weird like that and believe The Cube was a major stroke of updating genius so

we don't have beings that have supspace pockets and fire off antimatter getting in slug

fights over hydro-electric dams.







11-06-2008, 09:30 PM

11-06-2008, 10:52 PM

What if they sort of did? What if Primus is the ascended energon field of Cybertron that fled the planetin order to escape Unicron?

Or perhaps he is the second and only other planet to ascend, the one that tipped Unicron off to the factthat it was possible...

Say Unicron destroyed Primus' physical form, but his essence managed to flee into space. Maybe he'sthe source of Optimus Prime's Matrix of Leadership.

Chris MRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Personally, I loved the concept that the old cartoon devised. That the Autobots were originallylaborers( the autobot symbol was a slave brand, a mark of servitude) and the Decepticons were built

as gladiators to fight in the pits and arenas of Cybertron. This was before the Great Revolt and afterthe Golden Age of Cybertron when the Quintessons their cruel five faced overlords ruled mercilessly.Then the rebellion swept Cybertron and in its midst an art was developed. The art of Transforming.The Decepticons developed this ability first and chased the Quintessons off the planet and then maderaids and guerrilla attacks on the civilian population believing the strongest should rule. They destroyedthe Guardians and tricked Omega Supreme damaging his memory banks using his friends theConstructicons( new Decepticon recruits at the time) against him Eventually the current Autobot leader Alpha Trion fought back developing a resistance group.

Then a young civilian laborer and his friends were attacked on the shipping docks in the middle of aDecepticon raid by Megatron himself. They were clinging to life when Trion got to them. The young botwith the once handsome face was named Orion Pax. And he was reconstructed by Trion to becomeOptimus Prime. His friends were also rebuilt and became Ironhide and his girlfriend Elita -1.

Ratman_tf Re: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Quote:

See, I just found this thread, and don't have anything constructive to add despite being a TF fan,because you went all woogy-woogy. :D

I think, you have to establish and stick to the basic basics and work from them, instead of buildingbackstory to explain the basics.

The Decepticons are evil and want to enslave the universe. That's their basis. You can backtrack from

there and say that the Cons are a political faction of Transformers, or a group of ex-criminal laborerswho were treated poorly by the Autobots, or any of a bunch of origin stories.

The Autobots are heroic. They may not all be saints, but they're the faction fighting against the Cons.They can be the underdogs or they can be the more powerful faction. Doesn't really matter unless itimpacts the setting.

What if Cybertron was an experiment by the Autobots, in which they tried to cultivateprogress in a world to encourage it to Ascend before Unicron ate it?



Which is the sort of thing I'm aiming for with this version of the Transfomers. Granted itdoes take it into a more mystical and woogy-woogy direction, but I see those TFs thatbelieve in that sort of thing regarding their Spark as simply a more coherent expression of

the soul. Eons of sucking the life force of planets first imbued Cube Prime with the All-Spark,and then the All Spark split most of itself up into thousands (maybe millions) of individualSparks and thus were the modern Transfomers born.






11-06-2008, 11:12 PM

11-07-2008, 06:52 AM

11-07-2008, 07:18 AM

And the conflict is about power. Not necessarily energy, but the power to win against the other faction.

Personally, I think going too much into backstory and "why" dilutes the current conflict. It's interestingfrom a world building standpoint, but if you change the conflict from Autobots versus Decepticons to,say, Transformers versus Unicron, or whatever, you've undermined the three basic concepts of thesetting.

But then again, I'm not Fan Prime, and hardly the final authority on all things Transformers. :D


Hmm. He seems VERY open to ideas. lay out your idea for a "basic" TF build?


well, to develop my notion of predacons as a growing decep faction, it's not so much they take beastforms as they're the decepticon bounty hunters (IE: barricade would be a predacon, to use your faction= function rule), and the decepticon turn to subordinating rather than scouring worlds is a big plus intheir book, because it means they can indulge their prime directive (to hunt the enemies of megatron)much more often. heck, on account of the world scouring of previous ages, the preds have developeda sort of 'honor system'. make no mistake, it's not about doing the other side any favors, they do itbecause it makes the hunt more challenging and to draw it out in 'cat and mouse' fashion.

in short, they're the decep equivalent of the aliens from Predator, and usually the one who leads adecep inquisitor to the sought after heretic.

metagame: preds are a way to diversify decepticon plots against the players


Quote:

I had to think about that question. :)

I think the very first topic in a new Transformers campaign should keep it's toy roots in mind. "Couldthis campaign result in a great toy line from Hasbro?"I'm not saying it has to be childish. The Binaltech toyline is a good example of so-called seriousTransformers. It's a toy line based on real earth automobiles. And with the toy concept of real earthvehicles, the backstory emerged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternators

Another example (and much long before the toy line came out) one campaign idea I had wasTransformers hopping from dimension to dimension, and altering themselves to appear as indigenousmachinery. Which was my excuse for making Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and other IP themedTransformers.

I found Vlad's idea of human characters to accompany the Transformers interesting. It made me think of the Targetmaster/Headmaster toys, and I thought maybe this idea was worth expanding on. I cansee a toyline where a human action figure comes with each Transformer, and maybe backstory theidea so that certain humans can bond with a Transformer's spark. Like an empathic link they share.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternators





11-07-2008, 08:08 AM

11-07-2008, 01:02 PM


Quote:

I have to say, I like this way of doing things as far as a "new" TF continuity is concerned. YMMV,however. :)

I have to say, if I were going to go about it again myself, I'd have something vaguely along the lines of the IDW comics. Inspired by the G1 comic and cartoon, but slightly updated for feasibility in the modernera.


Quote:

I gotta say, that is an awesome spin on the concept. I like the idea of them being sort of the

Hunters/possible Inquisitors, and that because of the extended durations and lonely nature of theirhunts, they tend to develop their own sort of societal microcosm, complete with rules of the hunt,while still adhering to the Prime Directive.

Their apparent autonomy may also make them distrusted, disliked, or even outright hated by otherDecepticons, who may perceive them as being little better than Autobots.

I could definitely see the Predacon's possessing a leader themselves, the most skilled among them. AHunt Master, if you will, that has a position in Megatron's ruling council and answers only to him. TheHunt Master may even be the one that has suggested the radical switch to conservation-mindedenergon harvesting, thusly depriving some of the Decepticon Military Commanders of the chance forglory, and thus making the Predacons even more loathed in the visual receptors of their fellow

Decepticons.

Hmm...now we need a Hunt Master...maybe Hunt Master Ravage? (More like his Beast Warsincarnation, rather than his cassette tape alt-form) Or Hunt Master Air Razor/Wind Saber? Anotherpossibility is Hunt Master Grimlock (Yeah, I know he's a good guy, but maybe that wasn't always so.His behavior in the toons, comics, and other stuff seems to indicate he can be quite an asshole).

Originally Posted by Ratman_tf

I think, you have to establish and stick to the basic basics and work from them, instead of building backstory to explain the basics.

The Decepticons are evil and want to enslave the universe. That's their basis. You canbacktrack from there snip


well, to develop my notion of predacons as a growing decep faction, it's not so much theytake beast forms as they're the decepticon bounty hunters (IE: barricade would be apredacon, to use your faction = function rule), and the decepticon turn to subordinatingrather than scouring worlds is a big plus in their book, because it means they can indulge

their prime directive (to hunt the enemies of megatron) much more often. heck, on accountof the world scouring of previous ages, the preds have developed a sort of 'honor system'.make no mistake, it's not about doing the other side any favors, they do it because it makesthe hunt more challenging and to draw it out in 'cat and mouse' fashion.

in short, they're the decep equivalent of the aliens from Predator, and usually the one wholeads a decep inquisitor to the sought after heretic.

metagame: preds are a way to diversify decepticon plots against the players







11-07-2008, 01:26 PM

11-07-2008, 01:28 PM

11-07-2008, 04:01 PM

Maybe the Predacons have their own organizational body to administer hunts and settle disputes of honor. Maybe all three sit on the Tripredacus Council, each representing some perceived nature of thehunt (Ravage=Cunning, Grimlock=Strength, Air Razor=Awareness, Perception, or Senses) but onlyone is the Supreme Hunt Master that sits on Megatron's ruling council.

Kudos, Kreuzritter! Consider your idea stolen. :D


Quote:

Why not have the original G1 Predacons be something of a "founding body" for the organisation? To anextent, they represent different styles/aspects of hunting, and they combine into Predaking, who takesfrom each of them the most suitable aspects of their personalities, and therefore provides all theofficial decisions. You could easily generate drama there with characters who disagreed with thisarrangement, perhaps leading to the establishment of the Tripredacus council within the timeframe of your game. Alternatively, it could happen the other way round... those 5 overthrow the Tripredacus torule as Predaking. :)


hunt master - Predaking (a gestalt made from the previous tripredicus council)


Quote:

Weeell, I don't think I postulated anything any woogier than a lot of the stuff that exists in the variousTransformer cannons--My Unicron isn't that different from the standard one. The Autobot Matrix of Leadership supposedly possess quasi-mystical powers in the cartoon. And the Beast Machines toonwas chock full of woogy.

Quote:


<snip>Maybe the Predacons have their own organizational body to administer hunts and settledisputes of honor. Maybe all three sit on the Tripredacus Council, each representing someperceived nature of the hunt (Ravage=Cunning, Grimlock=Strength, Air Razor=Awareness,Perception, or Senses) but only one is the Supreme Hunt Master that sits on Megatron'sruling council.


See, I just found this thread, and don't have anything constructive to add despite being a TFfan, because you went all woogy-woogy. :D

I think, you have to establish and stick to the basic basics and work from them, instead of building backstory to explain the basics.

The Decepticons are evil and want to enslave the universe. That's their basis. You canbacktrack from there and say that the Cons are a political faction of Transformers, or agroup of ex-criminal laborers who were treated poorly by the Autobots, or any of a bunch of







11-07-2008, 04:23 PM

Agreed. I naturally assumed that most folks who'd read this thread would count on these basics of nearly every iteration of the Transformer already being in place in my setting, Since the what havealready been established, we can get on with the hows and whys.

Quote:

Here I disagree. To me, having an established back-story gives whats going on more gravitas.Especially if the Transformers' history and their methods of recording it are not that dissimilar to ourown, so absolute truth is a rare thing.

Sure, in the present the primary story is the struggle between the Autobots and the Decepticons. The Autobots are the good guys that seek to protect us and the Decepticons are the bastards that want tokill enslave us and take our stuff. That will be the main driving force of the story.

But giving the Transformers a different origin and changing the nature of some of the key elements of the Transformers mythos won't shift the focus from the classic "Bots VS Cons" stories that any groupwould expect from a Transformers game. If anything, it may give them a few pleasant surprises.

Quote:

Heh heh, nor am I. I'm sure most of the stuff I've postulated would give cause hardcore TransFans toundergo a meltdown. :D

I just like revisiting the beloved stories of my childhood and see if I can give them a spin that appealsto my current sensibilities, while maintaining their core elements that I loved as a child.


Quote:

Beast Machines is a good bad example, because I think it was the weakest of the canons out there.They took things that had long been established in the various mythologies and turned them arounduntil it was no longer the story that the fans had enjoyed. Big examples are organic-ifying Cybertron,and making it so that Transformers have to learn how to Transform.

origin stories.

The Autobots are heroic. They may not all be saints, but they're the faction fighting againstthe Cons. They can be the underdogs or they can be the more powerful faction. Doesn'treally matter unless it impacts the setting.

And the conflict is about power. Not necessarily energy, but the power to win against theother faction.

Personally, I think going too much into backstory and "why" dilutes the current conflict. It'sinteresting from a world building standpoint, but if you change the conflict from Autobotsversus Decepticons to, say, Transformers versus Unicron, or whatever, you've underminedthe three basic concepts of the setting.

But then again, I'm not Fan Prime, and hardly the final authority on all things Transformers.:D


Weeell, I don't think I postulated anything any woogier than a lot of the stuff that exists inthe various Transformer cannons--My Unicron isn't that different from the standard one. The Autobot Matrix of Leadership supposedly possess quasi-mystical powers in the cartoon. Andthe Beast Machines toon was chock full of woogy.






11-07-2008, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Sure. With all the different takes that have already been done, it's not out of place at all. TheTransformers have so many alternate stories, canon and even theme at this point is chasing the wind.(Despite an attemt by the comics to tie everything into a megaverse, Rifts style... :eek:)


Quote:

's true! Why else would I start up the topic? :)

Quote:

I agree with this in principal. However, "a great toy line" is something akin to "a great comic book" or"a great movie," in that it all boils down to personal preference.

For example, I loved the Generation 1 Transformers. Watched the show, bought the comics (ah, 75¢

comics) and I sure as shit could tell you anything about any of the characters. We were dirt poor whenI was a kid, so I never had many of them, but the ones I did have, I treasured. Played with the poorthings until they fell apart.

However when Beast Wars came out a decade or so later, I just didn't get it. "Robots that turn intoanimals?!? Optimus Primal?!? What is this raping of my beloved childhood icons?!? Robots becominganimals is stoopid!"(Yet I could totally get behind the feasibility of a highly advanced pretending to be Volkswagen Bug. :o )

It wasn't until the Beast Machines that I finally got off of my high horse, watched the show and endedup loving it.

So basically, what makes a great toy line (or game idea), is knowing your target customers (or

players) and selling your product (or game) to them.

Quote:

Heh heh, nor am I. I'm sure most of the stuff I've postulated would give cause hardcoreTransFans to undergo a meltdown. :D

I just like revisiting the beloved stories of my childhood and see if I can give them a spin thatappeals to my current sensibilities, while maintaining their core elements that I loved as achild.




I had to think about that question. :)

I think the very first topic in a new Transformers campaign should keep it's toy roots inmind. "Could this campaign result in a great toy line from Hasbro?"I'm not saying it has to be childish. The Binaltech toyline is a good example of so-calledserious Transformers. It's a toy line based on real earth automobiles. And with the toyconcept of real earth vehicles, the backstory emerged.

Another example (and much long before the toy line came out) one campaign idea I had







11-07-2008, 04:54 PM

Waaiiit a minute. You're willing to have a Death Star that turns into a Force-using Darth Vader robotand you think my ideas are too woogy?!? j/k :p

Quote:

It just seems like a tried and true aspect of the Transformers in just about any of the propertiesincarnations is human sidekicks/allies angle. I know a lot of TransFans hate that particular angle, but Idig it.

And I was thinking of having human psychics that did possess heightened sensitivity/affinity withSparks. I thought about having my as-yet-undefined Sector Seven style organization had been utilizingremote viewers previous to the Decepticon invasion, and now these psychics are infrequently pickingup on these malevolent, non-human psychic signatures.

Quote:

That's basically what I'm trying to do. Keep all the nifty stuff that makes my players go "Oh!Transformers!" and chucking out all of the stuff they see as cheesy and replacing it with more feasibleelements so that they don't go "Awwww Transformers?!?" :)


Quote:

Granted the learning how to Transform was kinda silly, but I enjoyed the "transforming" of Cybertron.That was one of the things that sort of inspired my whole "energon-as-planetary lifeforce" idea. Ithought it was a neat bit of story telling. *shrugs*

I viewed Beast Machines as the finale of the Transformers saga and thought that the way that endedthe show provided nice closure.

But I'm weird that way. I like curve-balls to be thrown in a story and like for a story to have a definiteand dramatic end.

was Transformers hopping from dimension to dimension, and altering themselves to appearas indigenous machinery. Which was my excuse for making Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica,and other IP themed Transformers.

I found Vlad's idea of human characters to accompany the Transformers interesting. Itmade me think of the Targetmaster/Headmaster toys, and I thought maybe this idea wasworth expanding on. I can see a toyline where a human action figure comes with eachTransformer, and maybe backstory the idea so that certain humans can bond with aTransformer's spark. Like an empathic link they share.


I have to say, if I were going to go about it again myself, I'd have something vaguely alongthe lines of the IDW comics. Inspired by the G1 comic and cartoon, but slightly updated forfeasibility in the modern era.

Originally Posted by Ratman_tf Beast Machines is a good bad example, because I think it was the weakest of the canons outthere. They took things that had long been established in the various mythologies and turnedthem around until it was no longer the story that the fans had enjoyed. Big examples areorganic-ifying Cybertron, and making it so that Transformers have to learn how toTransform.







11-07-2008, 05:08 PM

11-07-2008, 05:57 PM

11-07-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Wha-wha-WHAT?!? :eek:


Quote:

The convention comics/fanclub comics have been doing this for a while, I think. Everything TF is part of a megaverse, which has one Unicron... every time he's defeated, he hops into another dimensionsomehow. Hilarity ensues.


Quote:

:) Actually the concept was Transformers who changed into the cool stuff from iconic science fictionstories. (Or historical stories, like the steampunk Transformers from Evolution. This is a campaign ideaI had quite a while before the Star Wars crossover toys actually came out. Actual Transformers whofound themselves in alternate universes and disguise themselves by changing into X-Wings and Vipersand such. No Darth Vader Death Stars.

I hadn't thought about Force wielding Transformers until the actual toy line came out, but it does bringup an interesting thought. If Transformers are sufficently Alive to the Force.


Quote:

Yup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_...(Transformers)

Sure. With all the different takes that have already been done, it's not out of place at all.The Transformers have so many alternate stories, canon and even theme at this point ischasing the wind. (Despite an attemt by the comics to tie everything into a megaverse, Riftsstyle... [:eek:)


Wha-wha-WHAT?!? :eek:


Waaiiit a minute. You're willing to have a Death Star that turns into a Force-using Darth Vader robot and you think my ideas are too woogy?!? j/k :p


The convention comics/fanclub comics have been doing this for a while, I think. EverythingTF is part of a megaverse, which has one Unicron... every time he's defeated, he hops intoanother dimension somehow. Hilarity ensues.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_Prime_(Transformers)

http://www.idwpublishing.com/titles/transformers/hos.shtml





11-07-2008, 06:06 PM

11-07-2008, 06:40 PM

11-07-2008, 10:29 PM

11-08-2008, 09:58 AM

TumbleweedRe: [Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, and Nifty Stuff

Woo! Neat ideas, here, and I would totally love to play a tabletop TF game.

One thing I've always wanted to do in a tabletop TF game would be to use Minicons and/orMicromasters (Some of the smaller TF toys- about 1 inch high in robot mode) as character minis.

...That way the players can go 'Oh shit!' when I plunk down an in-scale Skorponok toy on the table. ;)


Quote:

I wish I'd had my Micromasters at my old flat when I ran my TF game, now... We kept Skorponok ontop of my shelves, looming over the gaming table in the lounge. :P

Minis would have been really useful though, even though the system (BESM3E) was hardly written withthem in mind.


Quote:

That's a good name for a band!

I've learned so much more about Transformers just from this thread. I suppose it just goes to showthat one can always get geekier. :)


Quote:

LOL! That's the third time somebody's said that to me this week. The first time was at work when Iloudly cried "Bloody Knobs!" in exasperation at co-worker stupidity and the second was when a friend

Originally Posted by Tumbleweed

Woo! Neat ideas, here, and I would totally love to play a tabletop TF game.

One thing I've always wanted to do in a tabletop TF game would be to use Minicons and/or

Micromasters (Some of the smaller TF toys- about 1 inch high in robot mode) as characterminis.

...That way the players can go 'Oh shit!' when I plunk down an in-scale Skorponok toy onthe table. ;)


...chock full of woogy...


That's a good name for a band!








heard me suggest to our waitress at a restaurant that they send somebody to clean the bathroombecause whilst in there I saw some "Horrific Toliet Bowl Smears."

Sorry it that last one put anyone off of their tea. :D

Quote:

One can only can only be thankful that geekiness increases in potency, for it is my most resilient aegisagainst the madness of reality. Were it not for the comforting, yet wholly-useless knowledge of geek minutiae like Optimus Prime's messianic status amongst extraterrestrial robots with identity issues, Ifear that I would have long ago be driven past the brink by the multiple horrors the world, such as theapparent inabilities of the U.S. government, the dying economy, and the fact that there will be yetanother season of The Hills. :eek: :( :eek:

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...*****************

I had a couple of new thoughts about the setting that I feel might have some awesome potential.

The first involves how Transformers operating covertly will be able to interact with humans. I think Imay lift the idea that the IDW comics postulated about Transformers possessing holographic (or asthey call them, holomatter) projectors.

On of the the main drawbacks about them are that they possess an extremely short range. Maybe amaximum range of less than 40 feet.

Another drawback is the fact that they are only illusory projections. They have no substance and can'tmeaningfully interact with their surroundings.

Both of these drawbacks mean the projectors aren't all that useful for anything other than passing acasual inspection, like a Transformer appearing to have a driver while traveling down the road orhaving the "driver" talk to another motorist, pedestrian, or gas station attendant from the confines of their "car."

Bay apparently touched on this ideas as well in his movie. When Frenzy casually sneaks out of AirForce One ( :eek: ) and climbs into Barricade, Barricade has a projection of a policeman (the"Mustache Man") sitting in him.

Starscream too has a projection, a pilot that is identical to Barricade's policeman. As does Blackout,and one could safely assume, every Decepticon that assumes a vehicle alt-mode.

However, when we first see Blackout's projection, the director has it flicker briefly, and beneath its

holographic exterior it looks as if it possesses a robotic body. And when Barricade first rolls up tointerrogate Sam, we see his policeman close his driver's side door. Of course, this could just beBarricade closing it himself and manipulating the projection to look like it did it( the most likely scenarioto me), OR it could also mean that the robotic occupant body is capable of some manipulation of theenvironment...which brings me to my ultimate point.

What if the Transformers have access to some sort of android body that they can remote control viatheir Spark? Sort of a robotic puppet that they can use to manipulate objects in their environment andbetter interact with humans?

I don't think this puppet is an inherent part of a Transformer. Most Earth-based Transformers shouldstill possess a holomatter projector for casual interaction, but the puppet is a separate tool or device.How about this:

Originally devised by Predacons, the Decoy was a variety of Minicon Drone, a small tele-presence-controlled robotic body covered with a synthetic flesh sheath to make it appear as a native lifeform.

The Decoy was used by Predacons when hunting for prey. The Drone was used primarily as a scout,as it's small size allowed it to covertly and discretely infiltrate an alien world's eco-sphere without

I've learned so much more about Transformers just from this thread. I suppose it just goesto show that one can always get geekier. :)





alerting the hunter's intended prey.

The Decoy differs significantly in construction from most Minicon-scale Deceptidrones. The drone'sprotoform is much less massive than others of its scale, leading it to be less resilient and downrightfragile. This was a highly atypical engineering choice when compared to most Predacon-designeddevices, which are known for their toughness and dependability.

Instead the of being indicative of the muchly vaunted endurance of their Predacon creators, theDecoy's design was far more demonstrative of another aspect of the Hunt that the Predacons admired--cunning.

The exact nature of the Decoys' designs varied from artisan to artisan, but most followed the samebasic patterns using Predacon Pretender technology. The protoform frame was typically built as anendoskeleton patterned on the specific skeletal structure of whatever native creature the Predaconwished Decoy to mimic. The individual components of the endoskelton and any other metallic partswere typically bonded with some sort of cloned organic tissue extracted from the life form to mask anyolfactory and electrical emissions that might arouse the suspicions of any native forms. On to this wasgrafted cloned muscle tissue. Vat grown organs were also installed within the protoform to furtherfacilitate the illusion. Over this was grown specially tailored skin of cloned tissue.

The Decoy's organic components could be altered to be made more resilient than the standardcreature. The skin, muscles, and organs cold be interwoven with special polymers strands that made

them more resistant to damage, but these polymers were not 100% scent neutral and might alertmore sensitive creatures.

Instead of having a standard drone data processor, the Decoy possessed a modified heuristicprocessor similar to the standard found in most Transformers as well as a neural network that ranthroughout the entire body. The Decoy's heuristic processor was specially designed to operate at thesame resonance as the Spark of the Predacon that would use it. This allowed the Predacon to place itsown protoform into stasis mode and its Spark could operate the Decoy as if it were its own body.

The Decoy possessed sensors identical in type and resolution to the Predacon that would use it tominimize sensory overload, but even this safety measure was not enough to prevent some Predaconsfrom becoming addicted to Decoy-wearing. Later construction of Decoys implemented a standardsensor package that possessed only basic tactile, visual, electrical, aural, and olfactory detection to

minimize the chance for immersion addiction, but there were a few Predacons that found that aDecoy's diminished senses mad finding prey far less likely and handsomely paid constructicon artificerswith unregulated energon ration chits to modify the Decoy's capabilities.

While only slightly popular at first, the Decoys ultimate fell out of widespread use as many of rough-and-tumble Predacons came to view their use as going beyond cunning and into the realm of cheating.The Tripredacus Council ruled that most uses of Decoys were dishonorable and that any Predaconfound to be using a Drone during most Hunts would granted no Honor. The exceptions to this were theHunting of low-priority fugitives and natives, usually undertaken only by newly activated or initiatedPredacons.

However, the Decoy may prove to be useful outside of the Hunts. The few Predacons that have sided

with Prime's Autobots recognized the potential usefulness of the Decoys during reconnaissancemissions.

Unlike previous Decoys, these new models would be built to be used by a small group of Transformerinstead of being tailored to one specific Transformer. This means that a given Decoy's heuristicprocessor must be specially designed to operate at the various resonances of multiple Sparks, a trickybit of engineering in and of itself. The difficult nature of this construction means that very few Decoyprocessors of this model have been built as of yet. The physician Ratchet and his fellow Autobot, theengineer Wheeljack, have been working on a Decoy heuristic processor capable of universallyaccepting any Spark by reconfiguring its own neural network to conform to that of its current user, butprogress has been slow.

The standard recon Decoy, being tailored to be used by a small group of specific Autobots, follows the

old protocol of utilizing a standard sensory suite, which many of them may find disorienting, confusing,or even unpleasant, depending on their own sensory capabilities. This does, however, prevent or atleast minimalize the chance of most Transformer developing immersion addiction.

It is the hope of Optimus Prime that these new Decoy processors, when placed within protoformsmodeled on Earth's humans, will allow the advanced team that has been dispatched there to gather





11-08-2008, 10:10 AM

11-08-2008, 11:09 AM

vital reconnaissance intelligence and make peaceable contact that may hopefully evolve into analliance.

It is his fear that when the Decoys are revealed to them, the humans will view them as an attempt atinfiltration with the aim of destabilization, rather than means of first contact.

So...whaddya guys think?


Quote:

Are you aware of the "Pretender" TFs, where the toys had a "human" or humanoid monster lookingshell? The Japanese Masterforce take on this was that the Transformers somehow actually shrank down to a human size and appearance, while the US and UK comics had them as 30ft tall humans.However, this could be a nice update on that. :) FYI, Jazz, Bumblebee, Grimlock and Starscream arethe "classic" characters who got updated to have Pretender shells.


Quote:

*Looks up at previous post and points to...*

Quote:

Yep.

Where do you think I got the idea? ;) :D


It is the hope of Optimus Prime that these new Decoy processors, when placed withinprotoforms modeled on Earth's humans, will allow the advanced team that has beendispatched there to gather vital reconnaissance intelligence and make peaceable contactthat may hopefully evolve into an alliance.

It is his fear that when the Decoys are revealed to them, the humans will view them as anattempt at infiltration with the aim of destabilization, rather than means of first contact. [/i]

So...whaddya guys think?


Are you aware of the "Pretender" TFs, where the toys had a "human" or humanoid monsterlooking shell? The Japanese Masterforce take on this was that the Transformers somehowactually shrank down to a human size and appearance, while the US and UK comics hadthem as 30ft tall humans. However, this could be a nice update on that. :) FYI, Jazz,

Bumblebee, Grimlock and Starscream are the "classic" characters who got updated to havePretender shells.


The exact nature of the Decoys' designs varied from artisan to artisan, but most followedthe same basic patterns using Predacon Pretender technology.








11-08-2008, 11:20 AM

11-08-2008, 12:09 PM

11-08-2008, 12:25 PM


Quote:

Serves me right for only skimming the post and not concentrating on either the thread or this essay I'mmeant to be writing :P

I guess the next question is, why would the "monster" forms come about? Octopunch, Bludgeon, Bugly,et al. Decepticons who'd created them for terrifying locals for their own sick amusement?


Quote:

who says those are shells? they could easily be other aliens or bio-engineered abominations created bythe campaign's equivalent f Meltdown (Transformers: Animated), or any other non-decepticonadversary with a propensity for playing god (Quintessons, the Vok, Cobra-La).

finally, if they are shells, they could be the aforementioned preds that got a little too attached to theirorganic disguises (and getting mode-locked in that state for so long [one of Grand InquisitorSoundwave's more ironic punishments to keep the preds in line] has likely driven them mad)


Quote:


*Looks up at previous post and points to...*

Yep.

Where do you think I got the idea? ;) :D


Serves me right for only skimming the post and not concentrating on either the thread orthis essay I'm meant to be writing :P

I guess the next question is, why would the "monster" forms come about? Octopunch,Bludgeon, Bugly, et al. Decepticons who'd created them for terrifying locals for their ownsick amusement?


who says those are shells? they could easily be other aliens or bio-engineered abominationscreated by the campaign's equivalent f Meltdown (Transformers: Animated), or any othernon-decepticon adversary with a propensity for playing god (Quintessons, the Vok, Cobra-

La).

finally, if they are shells, they could be the aforementioned preds that got a little tooattached to their organic disguises (and getting mode-locked in that state for so long [one of Grand Inquisitor Soundwave's more ironic punishments to keep the preds in line] has likely








11-08-2008, 12:37 PM

11-08-2008, 02:03 PM

Puts an interesting twist on Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the stars. ;)

Would the "Mega Pretenders" perhaps actually end up being able to transform the humanoid form intosome kind of vehicle mode regardless? That's quite terrifying in and of itself (especially if they burstout of the "fleshy" coating while doing so). Perhaps as a consequence a different kind of psychologicalattachment to the smaller form.


i dunno, barring beast wars, i've never realy been a big fan of pretenders or organic transformers ingeneral

TFA's blackarachnia gets a bye on account that she's clearly a technorganic critter


Quote:

That's very true. I picture the Transformers having crossed paths with many, many other sapientraces. The Quintessons are the only ones that have thus far proven to be a consistent threat

Quote:

True as well. I can totally see them either being form-locked for punishment or being so immersion

addicted that they don't want to go back to their old way of life.

Quote:

I envision the organic skin components of Pretender technology operating in a similar fashion as the tothe exterior of other Transformers alt-modes. The organic skin is attached to the actual metallicepidermis of the Transformer and when it transforms from beast mode to robot mode, the beast skinsplits along seams that are normally invisible in beast mode.

driven them mad)


who says those are shells? they could easily be other aliens or bio-engineered abominationscreated by the campaign's equivalent f Meltdown (Transformers: Animated), or any othernon-decepticon adversary with a propensity for playing god (Quintessons, the Vok, Cobra-La).

finally, if they are shells, they could be the aforementioned preds that got a little tooattached to their organic disguises (and getting mode-locked in that state for so long [one of Grand Inquisitor Soundwave's more ironic punishments to keep the preds in line] has likelydriven them mad)


Puts an interesting twist on Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the stars. ;)

Would the "Mega Pretenders" perhaps actually end up being able to transform the humanoidform into some kind of vehicle mode regardless? That's quite terrifying in and of itself (especially if they burst out of the "fleshy" coating while doing so). Perhaps as aconsequence a different kind of psychological attachment to the smaller form.







11-08-2008, 03:51 PM

11-08-2008, 04:51 PM

So during transformation from beast mode, the robot form wouldn't explode out of a skin in a showerof meat and blood. The skin would seem to shift and bloodlessly separate, which might be even moredisturbing.

In robot mode, most of the organic skin is probably protected from damage by some covering.

I don't think I'd implement the Pretender stuff as it existed in the toyline. Having a 25 foot tall robotwearing a human or monster shell, then jettisoning the shell to either walk around as a robot orturning into a vehicle is a bit much in my setting.

Quote:

Ditto. Of course, Pretenders and Beast Wars came about after I "outgrew" Transformers. A that time,playing with toys took a backseat to playing with girls. :)

But I think the Predacons of this setting rely quite a bit on incorporating organic components in theiralt-modes. Their skin may in fact be technorganic in nature, a biologically neutral lump (similar to stemcells) that can be altered to take on the properties of whatever creature they're trying to mimic, so asto blend in perfectly.

So instead of looking like a bunch of metallic dinosaurs stomping around the Jurassic period, theDinobots may actually have skin, scales, or feathers. They're eyes in beast mode would have asynthetic flesh covering and their teeth and claws too would have been concealed with organicmaterial.

Keeping their organic parts healthy and vital wouldn't be that different from keeping their base systemsoperating. Their actual metallic skin would have a capillary system that flows into their organics andkeep them maintained with the necessary nutrients, which the Predacon most likely ingests in beastmode. Given the efficiency of the Transformers' machinery, the needed amount of vitamins andproteins would be quite small.

This could provide some powerful imagery when you see Ravage chowing down a deer (or somethingeven more disturbing), to replenish needed nutrients and raw materials after his organics aresignificantly damaged after a battle.


Quote:

The original cartoon has aliens showing up all the time, only some of whom are mechanical.


dear lord, the junkions...


i dunno, barring beast wars, i've never realy been a big fan of pretenders or organictransformers in general

TFA's blackarachnia gets a bye on account that she's clearly a technorganic critter


That's very true. I picture the Transformers having crossed paths with many, many othersapient races. The Quintessons are the only ones that have thus far proven to be aconsistent threat.







11-08-2008, 05:52 PM

11-08-2008, 08:46 PM

05-02-2010, 02:43 PM

05-02-2010, 04:08 PM

to go with their initial presentation, Junkions are like WH40K Orkz (fight happy scavenger bikers)

but look closer. these guys live on the planet of junk. it's literally one of the crappiest planets in the Verse, and they're the only thing we see living there

a nigh-mindless, savage barbarian horde of drunken bikers

you'd say they're giant robot 40k Orkz, or a sanitized version of firefly's Reavers

(aside: these guys are a great argument for the decepticon propoganda: prime's one BSOD away frombecoming wreck-gar)

but, we were talking about junkions in general, and the planet of junk

long story short: Junkions are zombies. TFs who cannibalize everything and each other in a perverseimmortality, field-welding severed limbs and field stripping the fallen

so yeah, orkz + reavers,


Quote:

Yeah, but they have awesome parties.


ah, the universal greeting. roughly translated

"please spare my life, you may take the boy"


Bumping because silly enthusiastic and FUN ideas shouldn't be forgotten. Also Bay used Energon sonow I haven't a leg to stand on. And its the best and most coherent way to guarantee reponses to "heywhere did this idea go"


Nice necro timing. :) I just bought a huge bag of KO Micromasters and am considering trying to runsomething short and TF-y after Uni exams are over. Anyone got any good suggestions for a UK-comics

inspired game? Should I set it in the modern day, or the comics timeline, US/UK/Canada/HongKong/Wherever in the world?

All times are GMT -7. The time now is11:28 PM.


long story short: Junkions are zombies. TFs who cannibalize everything and each other in aperverse immortality, field-welding severed limbs and field stripping the fallen

so yeah, orkz + reavers,


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le8KOVSxQ78




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[Transformers Setting] Looking for Ideas, Thoughts, And Nifty Stuff

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