G.I. Joe RPG

There has never been an official G.I. Joe RPG. Which is a real shame and a missed opportunity since d20 and G.I. Joe are both owned by Hasbro. Fan, Jay Libby went off and created his own unofficial G.I. Joe RPG that uses the logo and the characters. This is a fan-made effort and it appears to be a pretty good one. The setting is obviously the comics and the cartoon and now the film/s. He based the mechanics on the Fuzion system, which I know very little about.

The other two significant RPGs are not exactly G.I. Joe, but it's pretty obvious that G.I. Joe served as the main inspiration for each of them. I do not intend to review the systems. They're are varying game systems here. I'm looking at the setting fluff.

Strike Force 7 is available for Savage Worlds, d20 and RuneQuest. I've only seen the Savage Worlds version I suspect the setting material is nearly all the same. It's written by Caias Ward and Hyrum Savage and published by Super Genius Games. More info here.

The Strike Force 7 back story makes for a pretty good read and is extensive going into the various government intelligence departments from WWII through the Vietnam war leading up to the founding of the Strike Force 7 and how it separated itself from government funding and ties. There is a science fiction tangent in the back story that involves government operatives with mental powers and an explanation to what the Men in Black really is. It's fantastic, but not too far fetched. Especially compared to some of the things in G.I. Joe.

Where the main protagonist in Joe is COBRA, here we have Skorpion. The rise of this terror organization is much like Cobra Commander's- fanatical and extreme, but some valid opinions- Skorpion lead by Pharaoh was very similar. One interesting thing, while the events of 9/11/2001 were instrumental in the final stages of the Strike Force 7 manifestation, Pharaoh disapproved of the Twin Towers attack as well.

This is new setting on it's own. It definitely is not a replica or parody of G.I. Joe. There are obvious parallels. I like it. Strike Force 7 is a pretty serious take on a G.I. Joe-like setting.




Crafty Games' Real American H.E.R.O.es is G.I. Joe with the names just barely changed. This came off as a parody to me. H.E.R.O.es is Headquarters for Eminent Risk Oversight. Versus their enemy, NME (National Military Exports). Destro's M.A.R.S. becomes the Morrigna Corporation. The Arishikage Clan here is the Shirobikou Ninja Clan, and Zartan's Dreadnoks are The Wreckers. It's all here. Some of the back story, while entertaining, is just kind of stupid. For example, in a sidebar in 1984 the timeline credits Kenny G and Michael Bolton for inadvertently saving America from N.M.E's mind control lasers inducing nation-wide violence, or among several crisis in the '80s- big hair bands were the doing of N.M.E. Here's Crafty's page.

I'd choose the Spycraft 2.0 system over the d20 or d20 Modern system for Strike Force 7. But I think the setting is a little too much of a joke.

Real American H.E.R.O.es review starts at about 3:00 minutes in...


*edit
Another G.I. Joe inspired game for Savage Worlds has been brought to my attention that deserves mention. G.E.T. Into Action! by Daring Entertainment (thank you, Sean [check out his Wine and Savages blog]). Here's the blurb:

When the organization known as STORM announced a New World Order under their tyrannical rule, conventional military proved unable to oppose them.  Determined to safeguard the world, the United Nations formed a covert team to counter the terrorist organization.  Wherever STORM appears, the men and women of Global Elite Tactical sound the Battle Cry and G.E.T. Into Action!

G.E.T. Into Action! is a new ongoing adventure series from Daring Entertainment.  Inside the pilot episode you'll find background information on Global Elite Tactical and STORM, equipment and personnel information, new Edges, Hindrances, and Setting Rules, and guidelines for running a G.E.T. Into Action! campaign set in either the non-lethal 1980's cartoon method, the 1980's comic book method, or a style and tone similar to the modern day reboots of the 1980's cartoons.

Included is also a full-length adventure, the pilot episode: The Rising Storm!  When STORM agents kidnap Dr. Jennifer Kenson, Global Elite Tactical quickly realizes it's to get their hands on the experimental BIND technology.  A new interface that allows pilots to control any vehicle with the speed of thought.  Assigned to infiltrate Mexico to retrieve the Dr., can the team rescue her while avoiding an international incident and facing the power of STORM?

Action, Adventure, and Drama await you!  It's time to strap on that side-arm and get your gear in order.  It's time to G.E.T. Into Action!

link

So there you go. Now you know and knowing is half the battle!

Pole Position

The animated show called Pole Position was named after the Atari video game, but there was nothing in common between the show and the game other than they both featured cars. The show resembled the Americanized Japanese anime Speed Racer more than anything else. Perhaps there was a lot of influence from Knight Rider, too. The show is about three siblings who are agents for an investigative/secret agency that uses auto racing and stunts as a front. Even in the show's intro it lays out how these kid's parents were lost in the line of duty prior to the events of the show and their Uncle Zachery, head of the Pole Position Agency, acts as a surrogate father for the kids, or perhaps is the legal guardian. The agency issues the kids a semi-truck as a mobile base of operations and two cars that each have unique artificial intelligence as well as a wide array of gadgets that Q-Branch would be jealous over.  Dan drives the futuristic concept car named Roadie which sort of resembles a blue DeLorean. Tess drives the red 1965 convertible Ford Mustang named Wheels. Daisy is their younger sister who always gets involved with the case or mystery providing many-a plot point, getting kidnapped and what-not with her cohort, Kuma, who is a lemur or a hybrid monkey cat of some sort. Most animated shows of the '80s had a token animal companion with a highly irritating voice and Kuma was Pole Position's. However, they stayed one step in reality by keeping the creature as an intelligent animal with no ability to verbally speak.

Pole Position - by rsj

In 1984 Pole Position stood out beyond it's peers in several areas. The sci-fi of the show was fantastical, but never went over the top. Sure there were talking cars with artificial intelligence that displayed emotion, but the events and stunts were almost always within a believable boundary. There were hints at some elements of espionage and spies.

The show had a very smooth animated quality to it compared to many other shows of that era and even decades after. Where most other shows of it's type seemed very choppy with fewer frames of animation per second, Pole Position's integrity was etched into my memory as quality.

The musical score throughout each episode features variations of the theme song and fluctuates through many styles of music. There are some recognizable themes, all very nicely done. All of it was composed and arranged by Jef Labes under Saban Productions. He clarified some of the details behind the production of the music here:

Dear Jeffrywith1e,  I was actually the composer/arranger who wrote and produced the entire library of music for the whole Pole Position series, when I was a ghost writer for Saban Productions in L. A.  The actual theme song was composed by my boss, and I did the rest.  The same tactic was used to creat the library of music for Heathcliff, Kissifur, the Getalong Gang, Wolfrock, and several other shows, mostly the animation products of DIC production from Japan.  Saban Prod. specialized in Sat. morning cartoon soundtracks back in the early 80's, and eventually got into the full production of Power Rangers and other shows of that ilk.  I moved up to the Bay Area in 1985, and though I look back fondly on those busy days and nights in their studio in Studio City, I left behind the maelstrom for the quieter life in Marin.  Cheers, Jefwith1f 

Pole Position-Roadie by GI-Joe09

The show aged rather well. The music may be the one thing that really stands out as genuine '80s. In the concept car and the '65 Mustang make the show timeless. The character design also is nicely timeless. The show looks like it could air today. The entire series is available for free at this time on hulu. Check it out right here hulu.com/pole-position

I tell you what, my son loves this show. The only reason I even thought of it lately was a toy set he got from his grandparents for his 4th birthday. The Fisher-Price Shake N Go Xtreme Race Set. The two cars that came with it match the car's colors in the show. The designs vaguely do too. The blue car looks more modern and concept like Roadie and the red car has a more classic muscle car look similar to Wheels. I wonder if this was intentional on the part of some geek toy designer, but who knows. The toys are actually very cool. Each car has a tiny differential in their rear axle so there is a pretty sophisticated design going on in there (you can tell by spinning one rear wheel and seeing the opposite wheel spin in the other direction!). I think he thinks the show IS about these cars.

I think this setting could be good for a pulpy action roleplaying game. If I were to tackle it, I'd go with Savage Worlds or Ubiquity System and scrape the chase rules out of Spycraft 2.0. It could easily be done.

Basic Roleplaying

My latest RPG obsession is Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying game system. I believe I played in two games years ago using the system. Both were Call of Cthulhu one shots and both are two of the most memorable games I have ever played in.

Since Chaosium released the core book I've been wanting to read it. It never came to be for various reasons like other gaming obsessions (Top Secret/S.I., Savage Worlds, or True20), etc. My latest thing with Top Secret/S.I. taught me that I am naturally drawn to game mechanics based on % roles. I came to the end of what was available for that system and was forced to look elsewhere. That put BRP back on my radar.

What secured the sale for me was finding in my research that ElfQuest was licensed using the BRP system. ElfQuest is one of these old comics that I always wanted to read back when it was out but never did. Now I'm finding how great it was through the old back issues in the cheap bins- but that's for another time.

I seem to be forever looking for a game system to use with Leesha (my step-daughter) that would hold my interest, is relatively well supported on the internet, easy to learn and teach.

She as said on more than one occasion that she liked the Top Secret/S.I. system from the one time we played it. She has some experience with D&D and True20, but prefers the d%, as do I. Perhaps the ElfQuest setting will be perfect all around for both of us.

True20 vs Savage Worlds

My interest in Top Secret/S.I. has faded for now. It burned hot for a long time and I've moved on to True20.

One of the many things that grounds me to True20 is a website project that I created. This latest obsession with True20 allows me to vent some of that obsession into this site, the Unofficial True20 Wiki, created almost exactly one year ago. It has seen an OK stream of traffic and I've seen it referenced as a somewhat reliable source of info on the Green Ronin, True20 forums. So True20 is reining strong right now for me (over Savage Worlds).

Here is an interesting article that's pretty relevant...

EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUE 20 AND SAVAGE WORLDS by Mark Shocklee

I recently played in a True 20 game run by a friend and I ran a Savage Worlds game using the Hellfrost setting at my friendly local game store, Dice House Games. I had an interesting observation from this experience, that mechanically there didn't seem to be that much difference is some aspects of the combat of these two systems. I also didn't feel that combat was that much faster than D&D 3.5, though I do appreciate the much simpler rules of both these systems.

I wanted to see how True 20 ran because I was worried that combat would take a character out of the game easily. The game that my friend ran was a pure combat adventure, so it was a good chance to see how the combat system worked. I am used to something like D&D where you roll to hit and normally roll damage if the hit is sucessful. While I thought that the True 20 system would simplify things, I noticed that all of the rolling to hit and the rolls to avoid damage seemed to make for more calculations that really didn't simplify combat all that much. I did learn that a 'dungeon crawl' is possible in True 20 and that it is just as difficult to take out a character as it would be in a standard D&D game.

I thought that Savage Worlds was going to be much faster and easier to run. I even invested in the set of tokens from Litko Aerosystems because I thought that I would like the system so much better. I have played in some Pulp games run by the aforementioned friend that ran the True 20 game and thought that the combat would be much simpler. I run the first Hellfrost module, available from Triple Ace Games, which turned out having a dungeon crawl at the end. This means that I was running the same sort of game in Savage Worlds as I played in in True 20. The Savage Worlds game may have had even more rolling, as the players make soak rolls, rolls to recover from shaken conditions, and spend bennies for effects.

I just had expectations of combat being speeded up by either or both of these systems, and in practice I didn't find that happening. Am I doing something wrong, or does your experience match mine?

link

He didn't say which system he preferred. For now I'll ride this True20 obsession.

Which System?

I have a strange issue. I am always rotating between three RPG systems. Can't decide which to use.

My all time favorite game and game system is the long out of print Top Secret/S.I. from TSR. I think it is one of the smoothest percentile based systems I've seen and I think it deserves a retro-clone treatment, like OSRIC or Four Colors (4C) (stripping the system out of the setting and using it as a generic gaming system for most types of games). The biggest mark against TS/S.I. is that the fan base is almost non-existent. There are many out there who love the game, but the number of people who still play and support it is shrinking. That holds a lot of weight for me.

The next game system I can't choose between is Savage Worlds. I have never actually played it, though I've read the rules many times and I really like the concepts- using die types for ability levels (d4 is low as d12 is very good). I even have a few of the campaign setting books. All of the Savage World products are incredibly well made. A good thing for Savage Worlds is that it has a fierce fan base. There are tons of resources to draw from for the system. One thing going against it is how married the system is to tactics and battle maps. My comfort is to rely on this aspect as little as possible. I've always been more about story than about the mechanics of combat. A good alternative for Savage Worlds may be the Cortex system that runs Serenity and Battlestar Galactica RPGs. Cortex is also die types for ability level, but appears to be more geared towards story than tactics.

The last system is True20. This one was a pretty good attempt to take 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (d20) and strip away a lot of the battle mat tactics out and have a near compatible d20 system. True20 is far easier than D&D and probably moves along much faster, as well. The fan base for True20 is out there, though I don't think it is as big as Savage Worlds. I even tried my had at contributing by starting the unofficial True20 Wiki page.

The Savage Worlds

Wednesday was a light pull-list day, meaning that of the comics I regularly get, only one title was on the shelf this week. I wasn't really interested in any back issues so I took a peek at the gaming area of the store. I was looking to see if there were any new releases for the Battlestar Galactica RPG. I have the core book and I was enjoying the RPG system, considering it for a home-brewed game with Leesha. What I found instead was Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition.

My favorite role playing game has always been Top Secret/S.I. Over the Christmas break I ran a game for my parents and Leesha and Cara using the Top Secret/S.I. system for a pulp/action setting. They really enjoyed it and I had a blast, but the system didn't feel right anymore. Since then I've been hunting for a game system that would fit my gaming better and be easy to use for non-gamers and young people who have no experience with the hobby. Over and over Savage Worlds was suggested. I was trying to move ahead with games I already had (like Top Secret/S.I. or Serenity/Battlestar or even d20). And Savage Worlds was out of print which made it pretty much an eBay purchase if I could get motivated enough to make that happen.

So when I found it on the shelf I instantly picked it up. And, its only about 1/3 the cost of most other RPG game books. Well, I haven't put it down since. I think this is the game system for me.

The newest edition (4th) of Dungeons & Dragons came out this weekend. Not that excited.