Teenage Mutant Ninja.....Something?
 

Howdy guys, I recently came across a copy of Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, and was astonished that I never knew this incredibly neat RPG existed. If I had known about this when I was a kid, it is a safe bet that I would have been even nerdier than I already was. Anyway, I had never really played an tabletop games, and now that I'm older, the stigma that was attached to these games in high school doesn't really trouble me. I figured, I would really like to see what the whole RPG thing was all about, so I gathered a few of my friends together and decided I would run a campaign. We've been playing for the last few months, once every other week or so, and we've been having a blast. Does anyone else play this game? I've found some ideas for tweaking what is, admittedly, a dated RPG system, and I've employed several of my own tweaks as well. I feel like that has made the game work much more smoothly, but whether the system itself was a bit wonky or not, the setting is just awesome.

I own a couple of the books, "Turtles Go Hollywood" and the issue you have. The art is pretty cool, but I never really got into the whole RPG thing. Either it just looked too complicated and time consuming or the stigma of uber-nerdyness was too intimidating to me.:lol:

Oh! I have that book, Benton! I found it many years ago and thought it was a graphics novel or something. I was playing that game with a couple of friends, and I have to say, it was real fun. :anime:

I like the idea of RPG games, the stories you create, the characters, etc... I just have a hard time with games in general... Too many rules and the controls are always too complicated to memorize. I can honestly say have never beaten a video game, I suck at board games, and if it was something physical, let's just say I wasn't picked first...

Not saying I am against playing, I just suck at them...

-ms

Hah, I suppose I can understand that. The overly complicated nature of the Paladium system is actually what made me decide to run my own version of that, simplified, and with some ideas from D&D 4th Edition plugged in. It makes things much simpler for the players. There is a lot less for them to remember, and a lot less for me to remember as the GM. Palladium was one of the worst in terms of just how complex their systems were.:tgrin:

Cool guys, I figured that others around here would be familiar with it! The concept of playing as your own mutant animal is just cool, and if you can't imagine that being fun, then you have let your inner child die. ;)

I was really afraid of RPG's back when I was in high school and college. I figured I was nerdy enough as it was, and the stigma attached to them is still pretty strong. These days though, it just doesn't matter to me.

I remember that book my mum got it from our local library many years back.

The great thing is that a few of the characters from the books, such as Usub Gerstalk and the Ratt Pack, made it into an equally obscure DOS game - Manhattan Missions.

You know, I never even made that connection until you pointed it out! Only the hardest of hard-core TMNT fans would be able to have such an insightful knowledge of both the RPG books and the Dos game. Well done, Ninji!

I'm a big fan of the Palladium TMNT RPG too. I have almost all the books, and I played it like crazy with several different groups of people back in my high school days [1989-1993]. The books are full of great art, especially Lawson's drawings in 'Transdimensional TMNT' and 'Mutants Down Under', but the 'Guide To The Universe' is my all-time favorite. One group I played with added elements for that other great Palladium game based on a beloved 80s toon, ROBOTECH!

Man, I really want to get a game going again... :tconfuse:

They should make a TMNT MMORPG haha. I dont know how the storyline would work for that though.

While it's not exactly a MMORPG, BentonGrey is in the process of creating something close to that effect with his TMNT mod of "Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich":
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=30566

While it's not an MMORPG, I wonder if anyone here is interested in actually playing a game of Palladium TMNT via the internet using something like Gametable. The program is free, has Dice-Rolling and all that good stuff built in, and works on virtually ANY platform [Mac, PC, whatever]. It's completely customizable. I haven't used it much, but one of my best friends uses it every week to play AD&D with a group of his friends that are scattered all over the US.

Anyway, maybe 'baby steps' are in order. Anyone who's interested and owns the books should create a character and post it here, and we can go from there. I would be willing to 'GM' since I'm familiar with the rules, plus my style favors actual roleplaying and having fun over a strict interpretation of the rules; however if someone else is interested in running the game, I would be thrilled to just be a player. The best case scenario would be to have a rotating GM, so everyone gets a chance to bring their ultimate, dream TMNT story to life!

I'm off to go make a character...

:tcool:

I believe I have all of em (or nearly). The author died of cancer last year.

I have the regular RPG, After The Bomb (Mutants in Orbit, Road Hogs), Mutants in Avalon, Mutants of the Yucatan, Mutants Down Under, Turtles Go Hollywood, Transdimensional TMNT, Guide to the Universe, and Truckin Turtles.

The late Erick Wujcik wrote almost all of em.

There was also one that came with the playing cards (and yes I have those too. *L*) but it's been so long since I did anything with em.

Aww man, I didn't know that Eric Wujcik died... what a bummer. :tcry:

I love the way he wrote the books, they had a nice balance between the 'technical' side needed to explain the game mechanics and the 'creative' side needed to give flavor to the background info / setting of the Turtles universe. I much preferred his writing style over that of Kevin Siembieda [sp?], creator of the Palladium system.

Well, in his honor of the late, great Mr. Wujcik, I am going to post not only a NEW character for the game, but one of my CLASSIC characters from back in the day. I should hopefully have them up soon!

Is anyone actually interested in playing? If so, any ideas on the setting? I thought that something resembling the Mirage / 2K3 universe, but somewhere other than NYC. Players could meet the Turtles themselves at various points in their adventures. Maybe I'm alone in thinking that the Utrom Shredder was a cool plot twist, but it would work especially well for an RPG.

Almost got my roomies to try it, but the guy with the most table top role playing game experience didn't like the game system and the interest faded.

And none of us had any of the books

I played D&D for years religiously in college.. every weekend for like 5 hours.. I would love to play a TMNT roleplaying game

Sweet! So what kind of setting would you find most appealing for a TMNT campaign? Which incarnation of the TMNT are you most fond of? If we do this, I would like there to be something in there for everyone to enjoy! In the meantime, if you really are interested, check out Gametable and let me know what you think. It would be great if we could all get online one Saturday or Sunday for a few hours of awesome TMNT RPG action!

For folks interested in playing that don't own any of the books, would scans or transcripts of the character creation info be useful? The game is long out of print, so it's not like we'd be slowing sales of the books...

TMNT & OTHER STRANGENESS Mutant Animal CHARACTER SHEET
 

TMNT & OTHER STRANGENESS Mutant Animal CHARACTER SHEET

Name:
Animal:
Occupation:
Alignment:

Hit Points: ____ A.R.:____ S.D.C. [Physical]:
Experience Level:
I.Q.:____ Age:
M.E.:____ Sex:
M.A.:____ Weight:
P.S.:____ Height:
P.P.:____ Land of Origin:
P.E.:____ Birth Order:
P.B.:____ Disposition:
Spd:____
Size Level:____

Human Features:
Hands -
Biped -
Speech -
Looks -

Cause of Mutation:
Sponsoring Organization:
Status with Sponsor:

Special Abilities:

Scholastic Skills:

Secondary Skills:

COMBAT SKILLS: Hand to Hand [Type]:
Attacks Per Melee:
Strike:____ Parry:____ Dodge:____
Damage:____ Stun:____ Critical:____
Kick:____ Special:
Bonuses to Save:

WEAPON PROFICIENCIES:
Weapon:__________ S___ P___ Thr___ R___

ARMOR: Type:
A.R.:____ S.D.C.____ Weight:____ Cost:____
Special Properties:

Equipment:

Weapons:

Valuables:

Personal Profile:

Notes:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cobain The Destroyer
 

A character from back in 1993... :trolleye:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Cobain The Destroyer
Animal: Hamster
Occupation: Adventurer
Alignment: Anarchist

Hit Points: _19_ S.D.C. [Physical]: 58
Experience Level: 1
I.Q.:_12_ Age: 23
M.E.:_13_ Sex: Male
M.A.:_10_ Weight: 81 lbs
P.S.:_14_ Height: 4' 5"
P.P.:_16_ Land of Origin: USA
P.E.:_15_ Birth Order: 11th
P.B.:_8_ Disposition: Crazy, takes risks, sarcastic, in to whips & chains
Spd:_33_
Size Level:_6_

Human Features:
Hands - Full
Biped - Full
Speech - Full
Looks - None

Cause of Mutation: Accidental Encounter

Special Abilities:
- Digging
- Advanced Hearing

Secondary Skills:
- Prowl [66%]
- Escape Artist [35%]
- Pick Locks [40%]
- Wilderness Survival [45%]
- Auto Mechanics [53%]
- Athletics
- Body Building
- Climbing [58% / Rappelling 35%]
- Running
- Swimming [58%]
- Read Sensory Instruments [45%]
- Advanced Mathematics [68%]
- Language [60%]
- Pilot : Car [80%]

COMBAT SKILLS: Hand to Hand [Type]: Basic
Attacks Per Melee: 2
Strike:_+1_ Parry:_+2_ Dodge:_+8_
Damage:____ Stun:____ Critical:____
Kick:_1d6_
Special: +1 Strike with Body Block / Tackle [1d4], Automatic Parry
Bonuses to Save: +3 Roll With Punch, +3 Fall, +1 Parry / Dodge in water, +2 Pull Punch

WEAPON PROFICIENCIES:
Weapon:__Knife__ S_+1_ P___ Thr___ R___

Weapons:
- Teeth [1d4]
- Flamberge [3d6; Two-Handed]
- Morning Star [1d8]

Valuables: $724

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah.. He died of pancreatic cancer in June 2008. There was a website set up where people could send their well wishes and stuff.

Cool Images from the Palladium Books
 

To get you guys into it, [and hopefully get more people interested in picking up copies of these great books], here are a few of my favorite cover images from the TMNT RPG Series:

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...paceDetail.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...sionDetail.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...tlesDetail.jpg

:tsmile:

I might be up for this. I'd recommend RPTools. That program is really nice. Some sort of play by post thing might work too. I'd like the chance to actually be able to play in a campaign, as I'm running ours. I would highly recommend, however, that we use a "patched" version of the Palladium rules. We've been using a version I modified, based off of some suggestions I found online, and it makes combat, gameplay, and leveling MUCH easier and more dynamic.

I would love to check out your 'patched' Palladium rules... do you have a version that could easily be 'cut n pasted' by any chance? I'm all up for keeping it fast, loose, simple, and most of all FUN! Focus on RPing, not tons and tons of dice rolling. I did a similar thing with West End Games' D6 rules when my friends and I played Star Wars and DC Universe. We had our own 'simplified / streamlined' rule set.

I'll check out the program you suggested. I'm also up for GMing if you just want to play; I understand the feeling, but I do have some cool ideas for some Turtles adventures. It would be cool if different people would want to step in from time to time though, so I could just play too!

I understand that. I wouldn't say no to a rotating GM if we could find enough interest. Sure, I've got a write-up I did for my players. PM me your email addy.

I actually have a theory that no one (aside from possibly Ms. Ivey and friends, and even then just briefly) ever actually played the TMNT RPGs... they just bought the books, read the text, and admired the pictures and mini-comics.

Actually, I played TMNT for years, with a number of different groups of people, all of whom LOVED the game. I even got NON-gamers to play, and they had fun too.

However, there's nothing wrong with buying the books and never playing... as you said, they're full of great art, they are very well written, and chock full of info on the TMNT 'expanded universe', making them great reference books and a fine supplement / enhancement to anyone's enjoyment of the Turtles. I myself haven't played ANY roleplaying games in a while, but I had a blast looking through these books again recently. The Guide To The Universe is an especially interesting read; the background info on the Triceraton / Federat conflict and the Utroms is fascinating.

I am itchin' for a TMNT game... :twink:

1985
 

And it's dated 1985, just one year after the 1984 comic book debut. The Wikipedia article says it was before the TMNT franchise became popular, but it must already have been popular if an RPG was created just one year later.

^ I think that the popularity of TMNT before the Original Animated Series is relative... it was a hit among comic fans, especially for a self-published black & white series [heck, issue #8 sold a whopping 125,000 copies], but in the grander sense of being a bonafide pop culture phenomenon, TMNT wasn't on most people's radars until the cartoon arrived. I'm sure Palladium books [themselves a small 'indy' publisher] got a hell of a deal on licensing the Turtles, and if they'd have waited until AFTER the cartoon became popular, rest assured that there probably wouldn't even BE a TMNT RPG; by that point licensing anything Turtle-related would likely have cost a fortune, and only someone like TSR would have had the funds to do it... and they wouldn't have invested that much capital to develop a game based on a 'kids' franchise. Luckily, someone at Palladium knew what was 'cool' ahead of the curve, and we got a sweet RPG and more than half a dozen solid supplements out of it.