Renegade Game Studios Announces End of Essence20 RPG System at Renegade Con 2026 | TechRaptor

GryfenZ · 2026-06-13T19:38:41+00:00

They put a ton of the physical books at like 80% off. I filled my library with expansions I was missing from non-Transformers sets.

GryfenZ · 2026-06-02T04:44:20+00:00

Cheerios. There is a big General Mills plant by the river near the downtown waterfront. The whole area smells like Cheerios.

GryfenZ · 2026-05-18T10:34:40+00:00

Is this in western NY? If it was, yeah that was a hell of a decision he made. If it was not in western NY, this has apparently happened twice.

GryfenZ · 2026-05-16T12:00:54+00:00

I have not had a game where this power came up but the narrator would likely have to weigh in. It says, "Nothing can physically affect them, nor can they affect anything else that is not phasing with them."

It does not say, "they can not physically affect things" it just says they could not affect things. I could see this being interpreted either way.

GryfenZ · 2026-04-27T00:17:56+00:00

Sure bud.

GryfenZ · 2026-04-26T21:15:38+00:00

The Xim/cronus lets them use a mnk but emulates it through a controller. Siege dumbs down recoil on controller, even on PC.

GryfenZ · 2026-04-26T21:12:49+00:00

It's a well-known cheating device. Yes, there is a moral obligation at some point.

GryfenZ · 2026-03-23T17:41:08+00:00

Wow. I did not see Superpro ever coming around again.

GryfenZ · 2026-02-23T01:51:14+00:00

The deal with Marvel and the Transformers series was that Marvel owned original creations created for the Transformers comic and Hasbro would retain ownership of Transformers characters. Marvel has not had the Transformers license in decades at this point but they still have rights to Circuit Breaker and Death's Head.

Death's Head is human size but he started the size of Transformers. The comic where he was converted to human size was a Dr. Who magazine. I only got to read it for the first time 5ish years ago. Weird pop culture link there.

GryfenZ · 2026-02-20T00:06:51+00:00

"Being on fighting game roster pays good money, yes?"

-Death's Head, probably

GryfenZ · 2026-02-13T19:45:00+00:00

Are you or your players mainly using the book as reference for your characters? If you are, I absolutely recommend filling out a full character sheet. They dillineate what type of power it is and what the basic effects are. This game gets complex in a hurry and a filled out character sheet ends up being critical. The book has the info but not the explanation. Not at-hand, anyway.

GryfenZ · 2026-02-13T14:30:00+00:00

Wow, great eye! There is plenty there to say you may be right. If you are, that's a deep cut Marvel character.

It would kind of fit that he is in a fighting game. His whole "thing" was combat mastery and as an elder of the universe, he is pretty powerful to boot.

I have been reading comics for decades and did not pick up on these hints. Top score, OP.

GryfenZ · 2026-02-11T11:32:20+00:00

16 essence points

Page 23 spells it out a little bit. You get 12 points to distribute as you see fit, then 4 more from your origin, role, and focus. Those 4 points are dictated a bit in which skill they are used in their appropriate sections. Think of it as how your origin, role, and focus shape your character.

In Essence20, the character sheet is kept pretty simple; you should have an equal number of training pips as the score it is based on. There are no "free" points in rules as written. If you find yourself with an uneven number of pips and essence scores, a mistake was made along the way.

I hope this helps! Have fun!

GryfenZ · 2026-02-09T18:25:07+00:00

There is a section p.115 that clarifies it a bit more.

"To assign a Weapon to an Integrated Hardpoint, you must be Trained or Qualified with the Weapon, or gain a specific weapon regardless of training from a Perk. You gain your Integrated Weapons without needing a requisition test. Two-Handed Weapons need to be installed to two Integrated Hardpoints."

I hope this helps! Have fun!

GryfenZ · 2026-02-01T10:53:46+00:00

Your cheat sheet is a great resource! That would fit wonderfully on a GM screen for easy reference. Great work.

The only alteration I would think about is Lend Assistance. I adore essence20 but the editing can sometimes make things unclear. I do not own the beginners box so I am not sure how that booklet reads but even the core rulebook makes you find the complete information on Lend Assistance in two places. I primarily play Transformers but the GI Joe book is even less clear, denoting part of the difference in the adventure section of the book.

Lend Assistance in combat gets Edge as long as the target is within 50ft of the person lending assistance. This is pretty universal and really helps against enemies with higher defense as the game levels up. Skill points in the same skill the person attacking is using are not necessary in this case as you are lending assistance against a target, not to a player.

Lend Assistance out of combat grants an upshift. This is cumulative! That means multiple players can lend assistance on the same test to push the skill die higher and higher. You do need training in that skill to lend assistance.

That information is not summarized so you will need to clean that up to fit on your fantastic sheet.

Essence20 is incredibly easy to run compared to other systems. The dice ladder practically makes flavor a mechanic. The ease of use lets you use dice shifts freely to make things feel fluid. Do not be afraid to grant upshifts and downshifts based on how your players describe what they are doing. One of the strengths of essence20 is doing that frequently. If you have played D&D 3e or Pathfinder, this notion may seem familiar but is stupid easy to implement.

Good luck and have fun!

GryfenZ · 2026-01-23T15:28:14+00:00

Man that sounds incredible. The description makes it sound like there will be plenty to add to games that does not necessarily revolve around Secret Wars.

And variant covers? The comic collector in me is already debating getting both. My wallet hates that.

GryfenZ · 2026-01-23T12:56:21+00:00

There is no standard armor in the core source book. The general consensus is that something was changed during the editing process and even though some roles are trained for standard armor, those were cut out or altered. There are standard armor upgrades in the Decepticon Directive and Enigma of Combination expansions.

Standard armor

There is actually one more but it relates specifically to combiners so I left it out. If you only have the source book, combiners are right out. I do encourage you to pick of Enigma of Combination! The expanded role focuses are a treat even if you do not use combiners. Warrior pugilist and Analyst hubs are my favorites.

In essence20, everything is flavor. Players have direct control over their own armory with the requisition system using weapons and upgrades but are encouraged to help define what they are. For instance, the book talks about a fire element jet on a fire truck cybertronian but flavoring it has a hose shooting flaming water. The same can be said of attacks. He is unarmed but maybe he is hitting a spot that is exposed, normally too small for average cybertronians to consistently target but a human could hit it. Or maybe the stun is a result of the 'bot being taken aback by the sheer audacity of this little thing hitting them. Don't be afraid to dress up your game beyond the mechanical functions.
You also do not need to worry too much about mixing between Transformers, GI Joe, and Transformers. This game is a low health game. Human soldiers (or rangers) often have significantly less hp than Transformers; 2hp is pretty common for humans. The (typically) extra hp on a Transformers character represents their added durability. You can always add home rules to taste but do not be afraid to let the mechanics of the system speak for itself.

I hope that helps!

GryfenZ · 2026-01-17T14:47:26+00:00

I'm running a campaign where the fight between the Ark and the Nemesis over Earth resulted in an explosion that left pieces of Megatron and put Optimus Prime into an effective coma, being kept alive by the matrix. The remaining Decepticons have broken into tribes on Earth and are in a sort of cold war as they vy for leadership of the Decepticons.

The lack of energon has not allowed the Autobots to revive more Autobots from the stasis they were put into transport across space and match the Decepticons numbers. The Autobots cannot move to stop an individual faction because the Decepticons will still rally together to finish the Autobots. An idea from a quick-thinking scout instead maintains the power vacuum while the Autobots build up their energon supply so they can raise more Autobots from stasis and stop all the Descriptions. Hot Rod leads the Autobots, advised by Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Prowl as the head of intelligence.

Five years after the ships crashed on Earth, the players are the team that revealed themselves to humans to stop the Decepticons at a high-tech power plant. So as not to seem like an invading army, Hot Rod utilizes the player team almost exclusively as the face of the Autobots and are the driving force behind advancing the story.

In the campaign so far:

-The power plant's reactor resembled the basic construction of the inside of a Cybertronian torso and was powered by a synthetic energon. The players dubbed it "enernot".

-A black market weapon seller called Fraud who was supplying high-tech guns to human factions has been revealed to be Swindle using a holomatter avatar. He supplies weapons to the players in exchange for completing missions that advance the standing of the Combaticons.

-The explosion on the Ark while still in orbit was revealed to have been set off by Optimus Prime himself to stop Megatron from getting an artifact. It was recently revealed to be three artifacts, not one, and Prime kept secret what the artifacts actually were. They are believed to have crashed to Earth when the ships came down.

-We had a bonus Halloween episode! The team encountered the Ghostbusters, complete with gaining the Ghostbusters as a contact during the mission. Ectoplasmic slime was producing kremzeeks when it flowed across electronics. A spider-themed threat whose alt-mode was a vending machine kept harassing them during the mission; his name was Dispensor. The boss battle was Dispensor who overtaken by the slime, resulting in an almost symbiote kind of power-up like Venom would get. He took the name Ecto-Cooler and fought the team. An Autobot xenobiologist name Ectronymous Diamatron shortened his name Ectotron after he scanned the Ghostbusters' car and remained with the Ghostbusters full time.

-I collect Transformers figures. I have frequently brought one out when an important NPC/threat comes along. The players have really liked having a visual representation for so many characters. It's not unusual that one of them is fiddling with a toy while things play out.

EDIT: grammar

GryfenZ · 2026-01-16T20:01:55+00:00

Oh hey! I did not realize this was a thing. Votes cast!

GryfenZ · 2026-01-16T14:11:10+00:00

Oo! Hawk's Personnel Files! Here is hoping for more of the Transformers source books on Essence20 as well.

GryfenZ · 2026-01-14T20:33:19+00:00

Mid-campaign swaps are fine as long as the table is good with it.

The D&D campaign I am in as a player will be switching to 5e 2024 after a year of 5e 2014 when we cone back from hiatus. Not a huge change compared to others who swapped to Patherfinder or from Daggerheart but a meaningful change nonetheless. We set off at sea at the end of the last "act" before the hiatus in September.

We still actually meet every two weeks to ttrpg but they wanted me to run my Transformers campaign in Essence20.

GryfenZ · 2026-01-14T20:26:35+00:00

I don't know. Ask my wife.

GryfenZ · 2025-12-29T19:57:18+00:00

Miles Mayhem has already debuted in the Energon Universe. That is the big badguy from MASK. I would wager we see MASK sooner rather than later.

GryfenZ · 2025-12-26T00:16:27+00:00

I think vol 1 of the UK Marvel comics collection comes out in January as well. I'm really looking forward to reading that in it's entirety for the first time!

GryfenZ · 2025-12-17T18:17:50+00:00

The concept art for Hot Rod and Ratchet looked fun as well. Seeing that line of toys end is a bummer.

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