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Battlechangers

A Quick Play, Transforming Robot RPG by Chris A. Field

Cover Illustration by Anthony Cournoyer, Shaman’s Stock Art

Interior Illustrations by: Anthony Cournoyer, Black Hand Stock, Bradley K. McDevitt, DavidSharrock, The Forge Studios, Little Buck’s Fantastic Visions,

Louis Porter Designs Image Portfolio, Mesozoic Press, Ronin Arts, Sade Wydraz. All Imagescopyright their respective creators, used with permission.

Battlechangers. Copyright 2011, Otherverse Games. Author: Chris A. Field

In the spirit of the Open Gaming License, anyone can create and publish new content for theBattlechangers Roleplaying Game, either for profit or personal use. Authors may modify this game

system in any way they desire, and may freely copy any game rule elements they wish. Please refrainfrom directly copying descriptive elements, flavor text, images or dialogue.

Any gaming product based on Battlechangers should include the copyright statement above.

Enjoy the game, and I can’t wait to see what other Trans-fans create with this simple, story-basedrules engine. Now transform and roll out!

www.otherversegames.blogspot.com

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During the summer of 1984, a small wingof alien starships crashed into the New Mexicodesert. While in search of new fuel sources tocontinue their rebellion against the tyrannicalTyrakron Empire, the heroic crew of theFreegear star-carrier Pilgrim II was ambushedwhile traveling through hyperspace. Though theirstarship was blown out of hyperspace and caughtin the gravity well of the blue-green world below,the Pilgrim II was able to blast its tormenter outof the sky.

The Freegear ship impacted in the NewMexico desert, only a few miles from the topsecret Area 51 base. Knowing the desert wasmostly deserted, and unlikely to endangerindigenous life forms in the crash, the Freegearssteered their dying starship to the one place inNorth America their few remaining sensors toldthem they might find the technology to rebuildtheir ship. The Tyrakrons had no such concern,and no such luck, their starship impacting in themid-Pacific.

Emerging from the wreckage, the alienwarriors quickly disappeared. Using atransformation and mimicry ability native to theirbio-mechanical species, the robotic warriors wentto ground, finding shelter and establishingtemporary refuges. Within days, the warringmechanoids discovered that Earth was exactlywhat they had been seeking- a planet rich inenergy resources. Both sides soon realized thatwhichever faction could control Earth and herenergy resources would gain an insurmountableadvantage. Unwilling to stripmine an alien world,the Freegears realized that they must defendEarth and its inhabitants from the rapaciousTyrakrons…. as well as hopefully convincingEarth’s governments to provide the fuel theyneeded to survive willingly.

Shortly, the Tyrakrons made theirpresence known, revealing to the human racewhat the American military was just beginning tosuspect: living alien robots, capable of altering

their forms to become weapons, tools orvehicles, were waging a secret war on Earth. Asthe Tyrakrons launched an amphibious assault atan experimental nuclear reactor in San Francisco,CA, the heroic Freegears responded. Quicklyestablishing a rapport with the American militaryon scene a combined force of brave humans androbotic gladiators drove off the Tyrakrons….

….but they will return, and the alien civilwar that began in the far off planet Technyscontinues on Earth….

Battlechangersis a quick-play roleplaying game designed toemulate the thrills and adventure of some of thebest cartoons of the 1980s. Obviously inspired bythe long-running Transformers franchise, thisRPG will help you emulate over 25 years ofrobotic adventure and excitement.

Key Concepts

• You create and assume the role of apowerful alien robot, either a heroicFreegear or a treacherous Tyrakron.Future supplements will show you how toplay an extraordinary human or apowerful alien who can compete directlywith the giant robots, but even once theseresources in place, Battlechangers willremain robot-centric.

• There is no luck in the game, just skill,strategy and the allocation of resources.Dice aren’t used, unlike in most RPGs.Players compare their ability score(referred to as a Specification) and levelsin the relevant skill, if any, against anumber representing the difficultly of thetask, referred to as a Benchmark. If thetotal of your Specification plus your skill

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is equal or greater than the Benchmark,you succeed. If not, you fail.

• If your natural skills aren’t up to the task,don’t worry, you can push your characterto the limit and expend your fuel for aburst of extra effort that provides atemporary boost to your stats. That way,even if the task’s difficulty level is higherthan your Specification plus your skilllevel, you can still succeed. Also,repeated attempts can make a previouslyimpossible task a little easier.

• Your Battlechanger robot needs fuel,specifically a high energy fuel sourcecalled Fuelon. Using your robot’s specialweapons and gadgets, or putting extraeffort into a task depletes your robot’sFuelon reserves. Deplete your robot’senergy reserves entirely, and your robotenters sys-stasis, a coma-like state ofcomplete helplessness until refueled.

• Your Battlechanger has a remarkableability, beyond speed, strength and built inweapons. At will, your robot cantransform into an alt-mode, mimickingEarth vehicles, weapons and gadgets.

Glossary

• Alt-Mode: The alternate form aBattlechanger transforms into, which canbe vehicles, weapons, or even roboticmonsters and animals!

• Battlechanger: A general term for anytransforming robot in the campaign.

• Benchmark: A number representing thedifficulty of a task. Compare this to yourrobot’s Specification plus Skill to see ifyou succeed or fail.

• Circuit Chalice: A unique componentimplanted in respected Freegear leaders

that increases their power and wisdom.

• Emulators: A smaller and less powerfulrace of Battlechangers allied with theFreegears.

• Episode: A single game session isreferred to as an Episode, like the episodeof a television show.

• Freegears: The heroic robot race in thecampaign.

• Fuelon: The high energy alien fuel thatpowers Battlechangers. The robots needFuelon to survive.

• Major: The rank bestowed on the mosttrusted Freegear leaders.

• Scavengers: A race of dispossessednomads driven from their homeworld bythe Tyrakrons. They prowl the SteelSector and occasionally come to Earth.

• Season: A group of related Episodes, likea series of episodes in a television show’sseason. How closely related the individualstories are is up to the storyteller. Someseasons have a strong overall storyline,and others are collections of single-session adventures.

• Steel Sector: A part of the galaxy whereinorganic, mechanical life is the norm, notcarbon-based lifeforms. The Steel Sectoris home to most of the alien planetsmentioned in the campaign, and is manylightyears from Earth.

• Specifications: A measure of aBattlechanger’s physical and mentalcapabilities.

• Sys-Stasis: When a Battlechanger isbadly damaged or runs out of Fuelon, itenters sys-stasis, a coma like state that

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allows it to slowly repair and rechargeitself.

• Technys: The entirely mechanical homeplanet of the Battlechangers, locatedwithin the Steel Sector. It’s natives arereferred to either as Battlechangers or asTechnysians, or by the name of theirchosen faction.

• Tronis VI: The Emulator’s home planet,located a few light years from Technys,on the fringes of the Steel Sector. Theplanet is a neutral zone where robotrefugees from across the galaxy havesettled.

•Tyrakrons: The evil robotic race in thecampaign.

What You Need To Play

All you need to play is one or more easilyaccessible copies of this PDF and some friends. Awireless internet connection perma-linked towww.TFWiki.net is useful for poaching ideas andcharacter inspiration, but isn’t what I’d callessential.

You don’t need toys or miniatures to play,but if you’ve got some, by all means put them onthe table and enjoy. Battlechangers is designed tobe fast moving and cinematic, and while tacticalpositioning and battlefield awareness areimportant, you really don’t need to keep track ofeverybody’s character second by second.

You will need some kind of counters torepresent your robot’s Lifeforce and FuelonReserves. You can use poker chips, marbles,coins, or virtually anything else.

Aside from a copy of your charactersheet, that’s it. You don’t need much to run asession of Battlechangers!

Future Updates

If Battlechangers is successful, expectfuture updates introduced in roughly the samesequence as the gimmicks of the toyline whichinspired this game. That means sooner or later,you’ll have Battlechanger spies hiding insidetechno-organic shells, wielding sentient guns,bonding to smaller robotoids as both powersources and detachable head-units, andprehistoric fully organic alt-modes.

Building a Battlechanger

Building a Battlechanger is limited byonly two things, a limitation that should befamiliar to any kid who grew up playing with the80s coolest transforming robots: yourimagination, and your Budget.

Build Budget

Players have a Budget to build theirBattlechangers. This Budget is measured inDollars ($), which eventually add up tosomething near the price point of an impressivenew toy, circa the mid 1980s.

Players have $30 dollars withwhich to construct theirBattlechanger (s).

Depending on how you spend yourBudget, you can build a single Battlechanger ofincredible power, or multiple but weakerBattlechangers. It’s a dilemma familiar to any fanof the toys that inspired this roleplaying game:purchase a single larger figure with lots ofgimmicks, or buy a bunch of mini-vehicle robotsfor the same price.

Battlechangers is an ensemble basedgame. Even if you choose to build multipleBattlechangers, you only control one character at

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a time. While one of your characters hasadventures, your other characters are off screen,either having adventures of their own behind thescenes or just recuperating from a rough mission.

Deciding to build one impressiveBattleformer or an entire roster of smaller, lesspowerful cohorts is a choice based almost solelyon the player’s gameplay style. Do you want tobe the hero, the hero’s best and most trustworthyfriend, or the comic relief? Do you like playing asingle character through an entire Season orentire Series, and really get into that robot’shead? Or do you like playing an assortment of bitparts each with their own quirky personalities?

Starting players should first try building asingle character, and more experiencedroleplayers can try their hand at building multipleBattlechangers.

Specifications

Each character has a set of abilities thatmeasure how strong, tough and smart that robotis, among other things. These abilities, referred toas Specifications are rated from 1 to 10, withhigher numbers being better.

All Specifications begin at one, andchange as the robot is assembled. A score of onemeans the robot is highly deficient in that area,while a score of 10 means the robot excels in thatarea. A robot with a Strength of 10, for example,is one of the strongest Battlechangers in thegalaxy! Scores of 4-5 are considered average andunremarkable.

StrengthStrength measures the robot’s physical

power. Very strong characters can lift amazingweights and punch through mountains when theneed arises. Even the smallest and most fragilerobots, with a mere Strength 1 are as strong as apowerfully built human.

SpeedSpeed measure’s the robots grace,

nimbleness and reaction time. Fast moving robotswith sports car or jet alt-modes have high Speedin their robot form as well.

ArmorArmor determines how much physical

punishment the robot can take before it goes offline. In addition to serving as the basis for arobot’s defense skills (see the combat section formore details), Armor determines how hard therobot is to destroy.

LifeforceYour robot has three (3) Lifeforce

counters per point of endurance. Unlike yourunchanging Armor stat, your robot’s Lifeforcewill fluctuate during the game, as your robot isdamaged or undergoes repairs. Lifeforce is likethe health bar in a videogame. When depleted,the robot is destroyed.

A robot’s Armor Specification in alt-modedoes not affect its Lifeforce. Lifeforce remainsthe same in either mode, and is based on theBattlechanger’s default ‘robot’ form. In the caseof Primitive characters, use the Primitive Modeas the character’s default mode for determiningLifeforce.

EnduranceEndurance tells you how fuel-efficient the

robot is, and how often it can use its specialabilities before needing to recharge.

Fuelon ReservesYour robot’s Endurance determines its

Fuelon Reserves. Your robot has two (2) Fueloncounters per point of Endurance. Unlike yourunchanging Endurance stat, your robot’s Fuelonreserves fluctuate during the game, as your robotexpends energy and refuels. Fuelon Reserves arelike the energy or magic bar in a videogame.Once depleted, your robot falls into a coma-likestate until it recovers enough energy to reboot.

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Fuelon

Fuelon is the strange alien energy thatpowers the futuristic engines of all Technysianrobots. Earth science is unable to duplicate oreven conclusively analyze Fuelon, and evenEarth’s greatest technological power sources,such as nuclear fission reactors and cyclotronscan only produce a few drops of Fuelon. In itsnatural state, Fuelon is an iridescent purple-redcrystal that glows brightly with its own strangeinternal light. Battlechangers ingest raw Fueloncrystals, either by swallowing them (in the case ofBattlechangers with humanoid lips) or byinserting the crystals into a special fueling portsomewhere on their body.

Fuelon deposits naturally occur in severalplanets across the galaxy, including in remotelocations on Earth and throughout the SolarSystem! Wherever new Fuelon deposits arediscovered always become battlegrounds, asFreegear and Tyrakrons strive for control of thepotent energy crystals.

Robots with the Fuelon Conversion abilitycan convert high density native fuel sources intousable Fuelon. This ‘processed Fuelon’ is a viscouspink and crimson liquid that glows like its naturalcounterpart, and is contained behind glass-likespherical forcefields. These spheres fit in the palm ofmost Battlechangers and are consumed in the samemanner as natural Fuelon… though most robotscomplain a bit about the ‘taste’.

Sys-StasisWhen a robot’s Fuelon Reserves reach 0,

it lacks the energy to sustain its functions. Therobot enters sys-statis- a coma-like state thatallows the robot to slowly recharge its FuelonReserves. When a robot enters Sys-Stasis, itbecome unconscious and helpless. Unlessprovided with Fuelon by an ally, the robotremains in this state until the beginning of thenext Episode. At this time, the robot’s onboardbatteries have recovered enough to return it tooperational status. The robot returns to functionwith 1 point in its Fuelon Reserve.

FirepowerFirepower measures how much damage

the robot does with its onboard weaponssystems. Firepower 1 means the robot can puncha hole through an Earth automobile, while atFirepower 10, the robot can blow a tunnelthrough a mountain in a single blast. Thisspecification is a measure of raw damage output,and despite its name applies equally to handweapons- Fuelon axes and thermo-swords, not tomention good old steel fists- as it does tofuturistic energy weapons.

IntelligenceIntelligence indicates how smart and

cunning the robot is. Characters with highIntelligence are genius inventors, medics,architects and tacticians. Characters with verylow Intelligence are little more than animals whohunt on instinct.

CharismaCharisma tells you how personable and

effective the robot is in dealing with others of itskind. Robots who want to be skilledmanipulators, trustworthy diplomats or respected(or feared) commanders should have a highCharisma score.

Ability Score Packages

Battlechangers, both good and evil, havea caste-based and meritocratic culture. The alienrobots are stratified into several social levels,which roughly determines how powerful andcompetent the robots are.

The player’s first opportunity to spendsome of their Build Budget comes now. Decidewhat level of Technysian society your robotcomes from, which determines how manyadditional points you have to assign to yourSpecifications. More prestigious castes, withbetter point totals cost more, because as we longtime fans know, the heroic, command levelcharacter toys cost a lot more than the seconds in

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