Robots in Disguise! Why and how ...
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:58 pm
Hello everyone.
Since I just saw Transformers at the local movie theater, it's natural for me to ask this question here:
Transformers were originally devised by the Takara corporation in Japan, and are also hugely popular over there (with several of the robots having different names than in the American versions, of course: "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime," etc.). Historically speaking, the Transformers were also an off-shoot of earlier giant transforming mechs and super-robots of anime from the 1970s.
So, how would you make up Optimus Prime and all the other Transformers in OVA?
Here is my take:
Since the Transformers are not "mechs," but fully sentient, autonomous robot-beings, we do not have to start with the "Vehicle" ability. A Transformer, Autobot or Decepticon, can simply be a standard character. The fact that they do not eat, drink, excrete, breathe air, is just background story fluff. A Transformer may not have to eat or get sick, but they need their Energon batteries and so on like a human character needs food. Also, though the TFs are pretty large and tough, they occasionally require repairs and maintenance (that's why there are even TF docs like the character Autobot Ratchet ...). So defining them as robotic to me is fluff and doesn't require much in the way of rules. The drawbacks of us poor humans (eating, drinking, breathing, frail bodies and getting older) and the drawbacks of giant robots almost kind of balance out.
But now comes the slightly trickier part:
One of the pivotal characteristics of Transformers is that they ... well, transform ... into cars, helicopters, tanks, planes. Those would all be vehicles, and we have the Vehicle ability!
Under the current rules, Transformation and Vehicle are deliberately similar: Both grant the character that has them 2 points for additional abilities per level in either.
So, a Transformer would need its vehicle form, at least one. But don't get Vehicle and Transformation (both pg. 55) mixed up. the robot form of a TF would be the base character and the vehicle form would be a usage of the ability Transformation. As long as the TF does not actually have a separate vehicle that he can pilot, instead of a vehicle he transforms into, we don't need to give them Vehicle as an ability.
A different case might be in order when you want to write up something like a young boy with a transforming robot sidekick. (Think of "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" from the Sixties.) In that case, I would make the boy the character, who in turn has a "Vehicle" (an intelligent mech, for example), and that "Vehicle" could in turn have the "Transformation" ability.
Restrictions that you should keep in mind:
1) A Vehicle cannot use points to create another Vehicle (allowing an unlimited point-creating mechanism).
2) A Vehicle can get Transformation as one of its abilities, but a Transformed form cannot in turn purchase Transformation, or Vehicle.
3) A guideline for Transformers-like series: You might want to keep an eye on the rule that a Transfomed vehicle form should not have a better Power Move or higher damage total than the robotic form. (Just my idea, but I think it goes for most of the TFs, especially in the recent movie.)
Since I just saw Transformers at the local movie theater, it's natural for me to ask this question here:
Transformers were originally devised by the Takara corporation in Japan, and are also hugely popular over there (with several of the robots having different names than in the American versions, of course: "Convoy" instead of "Optimus Prime," etc.). Historically speaking, the Transformers were also an off-shoot of earlier giant transforming mechs and super-robots of anime from the 1970s.
So, how would you make up Optimus Prime and all the other Transformers in OVA?
Here is my take:
Since the Transformers are not "mechs," but fully sentient, autonomous robot-beings, we do not have to start with the "Vehicle" ability. A Transformer, Autobot or Decepticon, can simply be a standard character. The fact that they do not eat, drink, excrete, breathe air, is just background story fluff. A Transformer may not have to eat or get sick, but they need their Energon batteries and so on like a human character needs food. Also, though the TFs are pretty large and tough, they occasionally require repairs and maintenance (that's why there are even TF docs like the character Autobot Ratchet ...). So defining them as robotic to me is fluff and doesn't require much in the way of rules. The drawbacks of us poor humans (eating, drinking, breathing, frail bodies and getting older) and the drawbacks of giant robots almost kind of balance out.
But now comes the slightly trickier part:
One of the pivotal characteristics of Transformers is that they ... well, transform ... into cars, helicopters, tanks, planes. Those would all be vehicles, and we have the Vehicle ability!
Under the current rules, Transformation and Vehicle are deliberately similar: Both grant the character that has them 2 points for additional abilities per level in either.
So, a Transformer would need its vehicle form, at least one. But don't get Vehicle and Transformation (both pg. 55) mixed up. the robot form of a TF would be the base character and the vehicle form would be a usage of the ability Transformation. As long as the TF does not actually have a separate vehicle that he can pilot, instead of a vehicle he transforms into, we don't need to give them Vehicle as an ability.
A different case might be in order when you want to write up something like a young boy with a transforming robot sidekick. (Think of "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" from the Sixties.) In that case, I would make the boy the character, who in turn has a "Vehicle" (an intelligent mech, for example), and that "Vehicle" could in turn have the "Transformation" ability.
Restrictions that you should keep in mind:
1) A Vehicle cannot use points to create another Vehicle (allowing an unlimited point-creating mechanism).
2) A Vehicle can get Transformation as one of its abilities, but a Transformed form cannot in turn purchase Transformation, or Vehicle.
3) A guideline for Transformers-like series: You might want to keep an eye on the rule that a Transfomed vehicle form should not have a better Power Move or higher damage total than the robotic form. (Just my idea, but I think it goes for most of the TFs, especially in the recent movie.)