#tfrpg

[cloud-kaiju]

Good... uurgh... morning? Don't you hate it when you accidentally sleep for a year and tinies build a town on you?

And yet.. still feel sleepy...

Magda's body clock works on an entirely different scale since she became a Jotun, since she's basically a world boss herself! Whichever viking woke her up is probably going to be in trouble.

[tf-rpg]

What are all the races in Tales of Lore, or what are the most popular if there are too many to list?

Alright so here is the "Species Table" from my document, I made it to be able to roll up new characters. The bigger the dice you use, the weirder the results you get! The d4 x d4 table is pretty basic, classic races, then d6 x d6 is weirder, d8 x d8 feels like very premium species, and d10 x d10 includes broken OP and boss species.

So that's... 97 or so basic species, but then if you factor in that Tales of Lore allows up to 4 Species Hybrids then... I can't actually do the maths for the possible combinations.

Also a lot of species have subspecies in my head- elements for the Drakes, different kinds of slime, etc.

I imagine that like... Human, Daemon, Beastkin, Goblin, Drakekin, Feline, etc are the most popular vanilla races, very D&D adjacent, but yeah, it's mental.

[supraxstcllas]

// there's no medic option in tfrpg and im not sure how to make Blades without making him a war machine lol

they do have seacrafts tho....

[grayseeker]

A Celebration of Seekers, you say...? Seekers are known to celebrate!

Jetpack Questions and Answers

Welcome to a special Q&A session about my upcoming zine JetPack, a Transformers zine all about Seekers! I invite you to join this creative endeavor—whether you’re an artist, writer, or reader fascinated by these fliers. Here are some of your most pressing questions answered, with the caveat that our project will evolve based on your contributions! I'll release a formal FAQ, along with a submission deadline and guidelines in June.

Questions and Answers:

Q: What inspired the creation of the JetPack zine?

A: I've always been fascinated by Seekers. I mean yes, I fell hard for Starscream when I first discovered Transformers back in the 80s, but I was also intrigued by his many lookalikes. The mere fact that these aerial warriors always seemed to appear in groups of three grabbed my imagination and made me want to know more. Nearly all my Transformers stories have been about Seekers, in one way or another. I know I'm not alone in this fascination, so I decided to create a zine that explores the untold stories of this culturally distinct group of Cybertronians.

Q: What kind of content are you looking for in JetPack?

A: I'm casting a wide net—seeking (pun intended!) everything from artwork and poetry to essays and short stories. Got Cybertronian drink recipes? News articles? Seeker legends and fairy tales? Tech specs for your Seeker OCs? A speculative nature documentary about Seeker nesting habits? Send it all! Whatever your medium, I'm looking for pieces that deepen our collective understanding and appreciation of Seeker lore and culture.

Q: Will you be accepting submissions based on [insert continuity]?

A: Absolutely! I'm primarily a G1 fan myself, but JetPack is open to all continuities, including alternate universe settings. You are also welcome to submit works based on original Seeker characters you have created.

Q: Are we counting characters like Wingstun, who are only Seekers in some continuities? What about TFRPG characters like Blazewake, Blitzkrieg or Avia?

A: In a word: yes. I'm pretty open about what 'counts' as a Seeker. For example, I would consider submissions that explore the possibility that Knock Out from TFP is a modified Seeker (as Starscream seemed to imply in a certain dialogue scene) or the notion that Tracks from G1 might have a Seeker ancestor, thus explaining his flight capabilities (and, possibly, his apparent alienation from the other Autobots). My main criteria with these 'edge' cases is whether 'Seekerish' elements are central to the work. For example, a story about the G1 Aerialbots questioning whether or not they wish to identify as Seekers (and why), would be perfect, even though the fandom doesn't usually group them with Seekers as a rule.

Q: Will this zine be published physically?

A: I hope so! I'm looking into options for print publication. Ideally, I'd like to find a print-on-demand service that allows fanfiction, so that anyone who wants a copy of the zine can have it printed and shipped to them wherever they are in the world. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that most print-on-demand services allow fanfic. If you know of one that does, please drop me a DM and I'll look into it.

Q: Will NSFW submissions be allowed?

A: Yes. If I get NSFW submissions, I'll publish two editions of the zine: one that's SFW only, and an extended version that includes the NSFW content. That way, readers can pick according to their own preference.

Q: What is the deadline for submissions?

A: This is currently TBD. I'm thinking of setting the submission deadline in early November, though a firm deadline will be announced when I release the submission guidelines in June.

Q: I didn’t see my question here. How can I reach out?

A: Feel free to DM me with questions! Apologies that I don't take anonymous asks, but I can keep your question anonymous when I post my reply.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and curiosity about JetPack! I'm blown away by the response that the interest-check (linked below) has received so far. By the way, it's still open until May 31, so feel free to share this post. Tag a friend who loves Seekers, and let’s make JetPack soar!

[fandomstuckportal]

((tfrpg starter book when))

[zxid]

So just curious, will your game be free to play?

free for everyone :D ♥

if i finish it of course

[theriseandfall-rpg-blog]

Apologies for the slow schedule, I know things have been slightly pushed out but I'm currently putting the graphic on the first character template and he'll be out within a few minutes! Thank you to everyone for all your excitement and support. Atlas will be our first character!

[pinstripehourglass]

tfrpg replied to your post “to borrow from 4chan >Implying pin is a "man”

Pins is more man than any other. He's the personification of true glam mandom, as defined by JJBA.

my gender situation is complicated. I just don't mind being called a man

[tfrpg]

Playtest Results: First Preliminaries

Base Mechanics

Core five vital statistics renamed to Agility, Intellect, Psyche, Senses, and Strength in order to ensure compatibility with other Vector System products. Ranged weapons now key off Senses for their attack rolls, but may still require a minimum of Agility or Strength.

Circuits for characters now have variable pricing based on power and usefulness, rather than the original 1:1 exchange with Rank dice. Circuit points are now equal to twice starting Rank as default, but the budget can be altered at the GM's discretion.

Because of the pricing changes, circuits have been modified to be more potent, including rolling together some of the weaker ones into more effective "package sets".

Certain combinations that allowed for excessive damage, stunlocking, or other unintended bonuses have been fixed or curtailed to reasonable levels.

Rules for cannon fodder introduced to allow for easier mass combat scenarios.

Altmode

Altmodes now exist as a set of alternate statistics, from the same Rank, allowing characters to switch between them as a combat action to gain an increase in one statistic by sacrificing others.

Altmode circuits allow for a quick boost in abilities and statistics when in altmode, but only in altmode.

The purpose of this is to ensure that transforming is a valuable and strategic part of gameplay, rather than an extraneous thing that happens sometimes when players get bored or reminded that they have the ability to change forms.

Combat Circuits

Sonic Cannon now causes targets at melee range to be pinned, cannot be used at long range.

Tachyon Driver can be used without deployment at a damage penalty. Still causes damage feedback when used at melee range.

Fusion Cannon requires a combat action to charge before use, to compensate for its outrageous damage rate.

Brawler Build damage bonus in melee combat toned down to avoid one-shot kills on equal-ranked opponents under certain circumstances.

Phase Displacer given new drawbacks in the form of offensive penalties rather than an excessively long recharge time.

Slagmelter bleed reduced at short range, cannot be used at long range anymore, because it was never supposed to be usable at long range at all.

Pitfighting now allows for Strength to be used when moving from short range to melee range, rather than an Agility bonus.

Circuit-Su dodge bonus now only applies to melee range attacks.

Altmode Circuits

Flight now a ranked circuit, now gives a guaranteed success against any opponent with lower rank (including zero).

Firepower text revised to fix awkward phrasing, cost increased.

Holo-Emitter bonus to Stealth checks increased.

Tech Circuits

Armor now a ranked circuit, gives steady Endurance bonus per rank.

Diffraction Sensors now give a bonus in addition to eliminating penalties.

Inventive now has a minimum Intellect requirement, cost decreased.

Physician is now a ranked circuit, providing an increase in repaired damage when out of combat.

Uplink bonus to hacking attempts increased.

Tactician bonus reduced due to over-effectiveness in combat situations.

Imposing Presence bonus no longer applies when dazed.

Stealthmode now a ranked circuit, starting cost decreased.

Special Circuits

Matrix of Leadership and other artifacts are now ranked circuits, to allow for inexperienced wielders of such power to grow in maturity over the course of a campaign.

Junkion Resilience now has a limitation so it no longer makes Junkions effectively invincible.

Dark Energon no longer imparts an Intellect penalty.

Triple-Changer now works as intended with the new altmode rules.

Kiss Play removed due to overwhelming input on how some jokes aren't even funny.

[cloud-kaiju]

A gorgeous chill Martha commission by the lovely Mochi-Squish, over at https://www.furaffinity.net/user/mochi-squish/

Super adore how this turned out, really captured Martha being her big chill bashful self.

[zxid]

tablet is not working so i went do some pixel stuff with mouse.

Theyre gonna be face set for my Transformers RPG. Youre free to use them anywhere with credit ;D.

[zxid]

Because I’ve tried get more my time into commissions I haven’t had much time to work in the LLRPG so after a while I updated my character set fdhjbfjfd

if you wanna help me in progress you can tip me some kofi, x1 coffee ($3) you can request any 3 tfs of your choice and and for one (1) extra coffee a walking sprite for any of them so yeah, xD: https://ko-fi.com/zxid94

also some other stuff of it here : http://zzxid.tumblr.com/tagged/llrpg

[tfrpg]

Wait! I still function!

It's true, there have been so few posts from me lately, but the answer is one portmanteau: playtesting.

Some things in games are fairly easy to work out. If you can figure out the average damage a character can deal, then working out the right threats for them is just a matter of figuring out how to balance damage dealt with damage taken. That's just a case of mathematics. But the problem comes with any level of complexity higher than Rock-Paper-Scissors.

As an example, let's look at the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The rules were revamped heavily for that edition, plenty of changes made, and it was tested. But those who did the testing were very familiar with the previous edition, and played it like the previous edition. They did not exploit the loopholes, attempt to find ways to break the intent of the design. So they never noticed the game-breaking combinations that existed, such as druids being able to out-perform the dedicated melee attack classes, or wizards being able to shut down combats instantly with certain spells. Admittedly there is more to third edition D&D's failings than a lack of playtesting, but it did not help.

Consider the following: what if there was a weapon in a game which caused a stun effect on a successful hit? And what if there was a particular perk that characters could take that increased their chances of hitting against a stunned enemy? Put together, you could end up with a character built around the idea of stun-locking enemies, chaining hit after hit. Combinations like these are intriguing, but care must be taken that they are not overpowered. The last thing a tabletop game needs is a "win button". Teamwork and variety are important. Having a team made entirely out of stun-lock focused characters would be boring.

Which is why we playtest. We need to make sure that if combinations aren't overpowering, but are still cool enough that players will find them thrilling. But even if a game has only ten options, that's still dozens, perhaps even hundreds of potential combinations - especially if you consider that characters work together by design. So everything needs to be stress-tested, pushed to its limits. Unusual combinations need to be tried out, approaching the system from angles that might not have been thought of, to think outside the box to try breaking the game. Because if you can break the game, you can fix it.

[tfrpg]

Worldsparks: Primus and Unicron

Primus, the benevolent creator deity of Cybertron, focus of a religion that once spanned more than a hundred worlds. Does he exist? Yes. Is he everything he is proclaimed to be? Not so much. But as an entity, Primus exists, and he could be considered a god by some measures. He is a worldspark, the living heart of an entire planet, a living being on an unimaginable scale.

On a smaller scale, Primus could be considered a scientist. He was born with curiosity and good nature, content with the immaterial rather than the physical. That he was essentially a planet, and one stuck in a predictable orbit around a single star, did not bother him. He developed the ability to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, to reach out and gaze throughout the entire cosmos, observe other galaxies. He experimented, within the depths of the core, with inventions and philosophy, mathematics and poetry. When life arose on the surface of Cybertron, he watched every moment, enthralled and excited at the possibilities.

At some point in his early history, long before the proto-sparks made their way out of the oceans, Primus made contact with another of his kind. By reaching out into the depths of space, broadcasting his presence to try and find someone else to speak to, he discovered another living planet. This other worldspark called himself Unicron, and they began to talk and communicate, sharing their discoveries and dreams with each other.

This continued for centuries, until Primus noticed a change in the stars. Something new had entered the solar system he called home. It was Unicron, having followed the transmissions from Primus like a homing beacon, his planetary body having been altered to allow him to travel across the endless gulf of space.

The two exchanged one final conversation, across the void, where Unicron explained his arrival. He had come to the conclusion that he must be the reason the universe existed, the sole occupant to do with it as he wished. It was his right, his very reason to be. The existence of Primus had thrown his entire sense of self into chaos. How could he be the pinnacle of all creation, the sole living entity, when Primus existed? The idea repulsed him, infuriated him, and there was only one solution he could see: destroy Primus.

The fight was unimaginable in scale, a desperate struggle at the dawn of the universe, and it was only his natural curiosity that saved Primus. Unicron was egotistical, self-obsessive, violent, but not creative. Primus, on the other hand, adored creation in all its forms, including mathematics and physics. To end their fight, he created the first space bridge. Reaching into the heart of the star that had birthed him, he bridged the gap to channel raw stellar matter at Unicron. The sheer force of the attack cracked Unicron asunder, his body becoming a new asteroid belt, but the core of his being managed to escape, limping away in agony.

The act weighed heavily on Primus. To unleash such raw and brutal aggression was not in his nature. So, when the first Transformers arose on his surface, he saw his chance to make peace with his conscience. He would help these tiny creatures, these children of Cybertron, to achieve their full potential. He began constructing a device just beneath the surface that would allow him to communicate with them, a complex transmitter-translator that would come to be known as Vector Sigma.

Through Vector Sigma, he spoke to the inhabitants of Cybertron, encouraging their development into art, philosophy, engineering, and more. He never gave commandments, nor taught his own discoveries. Mindless followers was something Unicron would do, and Primus refused to be Unicron. The children of Cybertron may have been microscopic in comparison, with mayfly lifespans that could not compete with the billions of years Primus had endured, but they were still alive just as he was. They thought, they felt, they created, just as he did. Primus did not see himself as their master, or their ruler, or even truly as their god. All he wanted was to be their friend.

[tfrpg]

Ranks and titles of Cybertron

On Cybertron, the rank of Prime is absolute, effectively the right-hand of God, chosen by Primus himself to lead his children and govern them wisely. It is a title that has been passed through many over the generations, but it is not by far the only title that exists.

After the establishment (or re-establishment, depending on your beliefs) of the dynasty of the Primes, other titles, both military and civilian, were introduced as the planetary government that would rule over Cybertron and its colonies was formed.

Two weapons were created to act as symbols of office, each imbued with powers imparted by the ancient relic known as the Forge. Stormbringer, a mass-hammer that could channel cosmic radiation into vast electromagnetic forces, and Sparkbreaker, an energon-sword that could burn at temperatures akin to the surface of a star. Both of these weapons soon became known by more common names: the Magnus Hammer, held by the one who bore the title of Magnus, and the Matrix Blade, held by the captain of the Matrix Knights.

The title of Magnus was held by the authority of all law on Cybertron, a position first held by Lex Magnus and last held by Ultra Magnus. Under the command of the Magnus were the Sentinels of the Justice Guild, officers of the law who patrolled Cybertron and the colonies. They were tough but fair, although any criminal who thought they could get away with terminating a Sentinel would soon find themselves facing the Magnus Hammer itself. The Justice Guild looked after its own.

None of the Matrix Knights held any specific title, considering their sworn duty to Prime and planet to outweigh any need for recognition for their actions. However, they all bore the insignia of their order, said to inspire fear and respect. They were the loyal elite guard of the Prime, capable and willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to protect Cybertron against all enemies. The sword itself was lost during the Fifth Quintesson Incursion, but the order of knights remained in service until the culmination of the Great War.

In the military of Cybertron itself, besides the basic ranks of "commander" and "lieutenant", there were two titles for those in position of absolute command: Supreme, the leaders of the Cybertronian spacefleets, and Maximus, the generals of the ground army. Because of the continual Quintesson incursions into Cybertronian space, a powerful military was a requirement in the early stages of the Golden Age.

Not always chosen for their size and combat capabilities, there were those who bore the title of Supreme or Maximus whose strengths lay elsewhere. Axalon Supreme was one of the greatest tactical minds in the Golden Age, whose fleet movements were considered to be like dancing. Fortress Maximus, who lived in the twilight of the Golden Age, was an expert in the design of next-generation weaponry, his designs still considered revolutionary years later.

[tfrpg]

Blasters and Brawling: Understanding Combat

Not all roleplaying games need to have combat to be engaging, but since our subject matter is a galaxy-spanning war amongst giant robots with guns that pop out of their arms, it's safe to say that we'll be requiring combat in this system. Although there will be plenty of non-combat activities that are equally as engaging, rest assured. But those will have their own updates.

Most of the time out of combat, a character can engage in any activity at any time. But during combat, it's required that everyone takes turns, to make things neat and orderly. Admittedly that's not really how fighting goes in the real world, but we're not trying to emulate the real world here. Things need to be cinematic and stylish, and also fair to everyone, so that means everyone gets a turn.

Those of you who have already played RPGs before may be familiar with some of the terminology ahead, but it's going to be explained in detail for the people who haven't. Plus the system uses some terminology you won't be familiar with, so pay attention anyway!

A battle begins when at least two characters have a reason to attack one another. One character can punch their own head repeatedly until they fall over, but that isn't a battle, that is stupidity. Nobody needs to take turns to punch their own head. Battles will typically start by two sides facing off against each other, but may be started by one character making a surprise attack. Once combat begins, everyone involved in the battle must roll initiative.

"Initiative" is RPG terminology meaning someone's battle-readiness, alertness, and reflexes. In TFRPG, initiative is gained by rolling Agility and adding up the result. The highest score takes the first turn, then the second-highest goes next, and all the way down to the lowest score, after which the highest score gets to have their second turn. The time it takes for a character to get another turn is called a round. If there are six characters, then six turns is a round. It is not a set period of time, but it is used on some abilities.

On a character's turn, they have three actions they can use. Once they have made those three actions, it passes to the next character on the initiative list. They could, for instance, roll Firepower to shoot, or Agility to charge an opponent, or Strength to force open a door. They could also spend an action to transform into their altmode, or activate one of their special abilities (if they have any circuits that grant special abilities). Though there is nothing particularly wrong with spending all three actions shooting at the nearest target, it might not be the best tactics. Especially if that target is your friend.

Friends in combat are called allies, enemies are called opponents. Attacking allies in combat is possible, but not recommended, because it will decrease the number of your allies, and probably increase the number of your opponents. Some circuits that allow for special abilities may specifically refer to allies or opponents. For instance, the Tactician circuit can grant your allies a bonus. If it granted the bonus to your opponents instead, it would have to be called Liability, and your allies would probably switch sides very quickly if you decided to use it.

When you are actually making an attack in combat, you use what is known as an opposed roll. You roll, and then the target of your attack makes a roll to dodge or mitigate the damage. A character can use Agility, Strength, or Firepower to make an attack: punching, kicking, or slashing in melee, or firing blasters at range. The choice depends on the character's weapon circuits, as a character with no ranged capability can't fight at range.

In response, a character can use Agility to dodge the attacks, or Strength to absorb them. Once again, some circuits will improve or change things, but those are the basics. When the attacker rolls, they count their successes as usual, but for every success that the defender rolls, that subtracts one success from the attacker.

All the remaining successes are called hits. Some weapons will provide additional hits on a successful attack, meaning if you get at least one hit, you can roll extra dice which will count as additional hits if they are successes. For instance, if a character rolls 4d8 Firepower and gets 2 hits, and their weapon says that it does an additional 2d8 hits, they roll another two dice and add any successes to the hit total.

Each time a character is hit, they lose one point of Endurance. Once they are down to 0 points of Endurance, they are unconscious or offline. It's up to their attacker to decide if the final blow is a fatal one or not. Endurance can be replenished with rest and medical attention, although it takes time and effort to bring a character back to tip-top condition.

Sometimes, a character will be subjected to a condition. Conditions are not damage, but will affect the character. An example of a condition is slowed, which means the character takes -1d8 to Agility. This can make an opponent less effective in combat, or allow for an easy escape. Some conditions are caused by weapons, but other weapons exploit conditions. The Shock Knife does extra hits to surprised characters, making it ideal for stealthy attackers.

In order to see how this all works in practice, let's see a brief example.

Prowl, an agility-focused character with 4d8 Agility and 2d8 Firepower, is facing off against Blackout, a tough opponent with 3d8 Strength and 3d8 Firepower. Prowl rolls 26 for his initiative, Blackout rolls 4, so Prowl gets to move first. He decides to close the distance and get to melee range, so he rolls Agility to charge in close. He gets two successes. Blackout decides he'd rather keep his distance, so he makes his opposing roll to stay out of reach, but only rolls one success. This counters one of Prowl's successes, but he has two, meaning he's left with one and manages to get to melee range.

For his next action, Prowl decides to use his Holo-Emitter circuit to distract Blackout. The circuit says that by rolling Intellect, he can create a hologram that will make the target dazed. He gets two successes, and once again Blackout gets to make his opposing roll to see through the trick — but fails. The Holo-Emitter trick works, and Blackout is dazed: taking a -1d8 penalty on his next defensive roll.

Satisfied that he's got the upper hand, Prowl decides to attack, using his Circuit-Su fighting style. This grants him an additional d8 when making melee attacks using Agility, meaning he rolls a total of 5d8. He gets three hits, and Blackout rolls Strength to absorb the blows with his tough body. Because of his dazed condition, he can only roll 2d8, and gets one success. Three minus one is two, meaning he loses two points of Endurance.

Prowl's turn has ended, so now Blackout gets to move. His first decision is to make some distance between himself and Prowl, and avoid those close hits. Because his robot mode isn't as fast as Prowl's, he spends an action to transform into his altmode, an attack chopper. In this mode he has flight, which gives him an automatic success when moving, and a +1d8 bonus to Agility. He rolls two successes, making three total with his automatic success. Prowl rolls two successes, leaping to grab hold of Blackout but missing as he flies up out of reach.

With one action left, Blackout decides to attack. He uses his fearsome Pulse Cannon, which does 2d8 additional hits. Rolling 3d8 Firepower to attack, he gets two hits, and rolls one extra from the weapon itself. Prowl's Circuit-Su does not grant him a bonus for dodging blaster fire, so he can only roll 4d8 to dodge the shot. He gets two successes, meaning he loses only one point of Endurance. Blackout's turn ends, but despite doing less damage, he is now in a more advantageous position. The fight will continue.

As we saw in the example, there is one last aspect of combat we haven't yet covered, which is range. There are three ranges: melee range, short range, and long range. To move from one range to another (short to melee, or long to short) requires an Agility roll made to charge the distance. Sometimes this is best done in altmode, especially if you have an altmode that flies.

Melee range is up close and personal, where blows can be exchanged. Short range is close enough to have a conversation, but not close enough to step in and punch. Two Transformers on either end of a football field would be at short range, for instance. Long range is essentially anything further away than short range, but still within a reasonable distance. On the other side of the planet would not be long range, as there would be no way to engage in a proper fight. But a mile or two would be long range.

Weapons are effected by range. Melee weapons can only be used at melee range, and most blasters take a -1d8 penalty when used at melee or long range. After all, it is hard to aim when the target is too close, or too far away. A few weapons circumvent these penalties: the Tachyon Driver takes no penalty for long range use, and the Sonic Cannon takes no penalty for melee range use.

Choosing the right weapon is important on a tactical level. Every weapon circuit has different benefits that can be used effectively together, such as Prowl's Holo-Emitter allowing him to gain the advantage over his opponents and do more damage. Not to mention that in a team, each character can rely on their teammates to provide support with their unique offensive and defensive capabilities.