Robotech (role-playing game)

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This article is about Robotech role-playing games. For other uses, see Robotech (disambiguation).

A line of Robotech pen-and-paper role-playing games based on the Robotech and Sentinels series were published by Palladium Books from 1986 to 2001.

Contents

[edit] RPG books

The line consisted of the following:

[edit] Core books

  • Robotech RPG Book One: Macross
  • Robotech RPG Book Two: RDF Manual
  • Robotech RPG Book Three: Zentraedi
  • Robotech RPG Book Four: Southern Cross
  • Robotech RPG Book Five: Invid Invasion
  • Robotech II RPG: The Sentinels
  • Robotech II RPG: REF Field Guide
  • Robotech RPG Book Six: Return of the Masters
  • Robotech RPG Book Seven: New World Order
  • Robotech RPG Book Eight: Strike Force

[edit] Adventure/scenario books

  • Robotech RPG Adventures: Lancer's Rockers
  • Robotech RPG Adventures: Zentraedi Breakout
  • Robotech RPG Adventures: Ghost Ship
  • Robotech RPG Adventures: RDF Accelerated Training Program

Core books one through five covered the three segments of Robotech as aired; Robotech II covered the Sentinels pilot movie and the source material that never ended up being developed. Book six and Lancer's Rockers took place after the series ended, and books seven, eight, and the rest of the adventure books took place during or shortly after the Macross segment.

The books were written partly by Kevin Siembieda and other Palladium regulars, and partly by freelancers (especially the later books and sourcebooks). Illustrations consisted partly of line art taken from original Japanese source material (particularly in the core books), and partly of new black and white line art done by Palladium and freelance artists such as Kevin Long.

Palladium also published a separate RPG based on the Macross II anime, but this was entirely unrelated to the Robotech continuity.

[edit] Storyline

The Robotech RPG by and large followed the TV series storyline, attempting in its own way to fill in gaps just as the Jack McKinney Robotech novelizations did. Several of the sourcebooks covered different parts of the world during or shortly after the Macross era, where there was the most room for expansion. However, the RPG diverged from the McKinney stories after the events covered in the Robotech series ended. Where McKinney followed Scott Bernard and the others in their search for Admiral Rick Hunter, leaving behind a peaceful planet earth, Palladium posited the Invid returning to earth a few months after they were driven away. Some fans are dissatisfied with the Invid return, feeling it contradicts the character development that took place in the Robotech series's final episodes.

The books Return of the Masters and Lancer's Rockers were set during this second Invid invasion, and introduced concepts and events not suggested by the original material. Return of the Masters, set in Asia, features a system of gladiatorial mecha martial arts combat called Mecha Su-Dai; Lancer's Rockers concerns a network of travelling performers following in the footsteps of New Generation rock star Lancer/Yellow Dancer, carrying protoculture-powered musical instruments that double as powerful weapons (reminiscent of, but unrelated to, similar developments in the Macross sequel Macross 7). Some fans found these new ideas exciting and original. However, others rejected them as running counter to the spirit of Robotech and being more suited to Palladium's Rifts setting.

The Sentinels RPG also diverged in some respects from the story covered in the Sentinels novels and comic books, having been developed independently based on the same incomplete source material provided by Harmony Gold. The two primary differences are the idea that the SDF-3 left with an entire fleet of REF ships accompanying them, and that the REF and the Sentinels joined in a protracted war against the Invid Regent. The game also suggested that members of the Sentinels' races would openly join the REF.

[edit] Game system

The Robotech RPG used a modified version of the rule system used in the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game introduced several years earlier. Clearly patterned after Dungeons & Dragons, the Palladium FRPG used a very similar rule system, based around physical and mental statistics generated by rolling 3D6 (three six-sided dice), and the use of a D20 (20-sided die) in combat. Percentile dice (two ten-sided dice, one read as a tens column and the other as a ones column) are used for skill resolution. On top of this already complex system, the Robotech RPG introduced the concept of mega-damage—"super" hit-points that are equivalent to 100 ordinary-person hit points—to simulate the toughness of the heavily-armored mecha. This concept would become widely used in Palladium's Rifts game.

Critics of the game charged that the attempt to bolt giant robots onto a D&D-like system, rather than design a new system that would scale better, was a poor decision. The Palladium rules' complexity, as well as the overall toughness of the mecha as rendered in the books, meant that combat and skill checks could often be confusing, lengthy, BattleTech-like affairs, interrupting the roleplaying process and making the game poorly-suited to simulating the rapid-fire combat action of the Robotech anime. The games also never saw revision into new editions (with the exception of one book, Return of the Masters); corrections or new rulings had to be covered in subsequent rule books or on-line FAQs, leading to further confusion. Another common criticism had to do with the percentage-based skill system, whereupon every skill in a character's reportoire improved by a set percentage with each level gained—even if it was a skill the character never actually used.

As with the McKinney books, the creators of the Robotech RPG originally lacked access to the complete source material that has since become available largely due to fan translation efforts and research. They were working to a deadline, from untranslated material and tapes of the show itself. As a result of an incomplete understanding of this material, compounded by animation and dubbing errors, many of the mecha depictions in the Robotech RPG are not accurate to what is seen in the television show—they are given the wrong weapons and equipment and in some cases confused for other mecha altogether. This is particularly true for the Southern Cross book, where the many humanoid robots, battloids, and suits of armor are often confused for one another. A detailed listing of some of these errors may be found here. In one of the most notable examples, a 200 meter long space destroyer is confused for a small one-man fighter.

In 2000-2001, contractual issues in the wake of Harmony Gold's aborted Robotech 3000 project, as well as a general refocusing of the company on production of its flagship Rifts line, caused Palladium to forego renewing the Robotech license. The Robotech RPG line went out of print as of June 30, 2001.

Accoding to a report from the February 2006 New York Comic-Con, a new Robotech RPG license deal is in the works, to coincide with the release of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. In a March 29, 2006 Palladium forum post, Palladium indicates that they have been considering reacquiring the Robotech license and issuing revised editions of the old Robotech games and/or a Shadow Chronicles adaptation. An April 19, 2006 Palladium Books press release indicates the company is experiencing critical financial difficulties and thus may not be able to obtain the license. On September 21st, Palladium Books issued a press release confirming their negotiations with Harmony Gold for a new RPG, with a tentative release date in early 2007.

[edit] External links



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