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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangenss was the second RPG I ever picked up, right behind AD&D. My friends and I played many, many hours and it remains one of my favorite settings and ideas for an RPG.

The other day, while watching the newest iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon (not bad, not bad), I was hit with a desire to play it again. Roll up a character, have crazy mutant animal ninja adventures and all that. There's just one problem...


The Palladium system is TERRIBLE. Seriously. I'm not sure if it's the worst system ever designed, but it's definitely up there. Character advancement is basically non-existant. It uses a level system that grants next to nothing as you reach each new level. The stat system is a mess, where the first 15 numbers don't matter at all. The skill system is cumbersome and skills seem arbitrarily handed out. For instance, even using a walkie talkies requires a skill and without that skill, you can't figure out or be taught how to push a button and talk. Craziness.

So, Dakkanauts, I'm looking for a system wherein I could recreate the same feel of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles world. Something flexible enough to allow for meaningful differences between the various animal species, something modern world, etc.

I know there are various point-based games like GURPS or the HEROS/CHAMPIONS systems, but frankly those systems tend to be complete nightmares for character creation. Champions, for instance, practically requires a CPA or accounting degree depending on how much you want to squeeze out of every point available to you. I haven't played GURPS in awhile, but I remember it being a similar system.

Suggstions? Recomendations? Thoughts? Funny stories always welcome.

Are you looking for more serious with a few humorous moments like the comics or more humor with a few serious moments like the cartoons?

Ideally the system would go either way, but if forced to choose I'd rather have it more like the comic: more serious with scattered comical moments.

I loved TMNT and have every expansion. I will agree that the Pallidium system does leave something to be desired sometimes. If you really dont like the system why not try using the D20 Modern system and just add the animals in from the TMNT book using just the Bio-E costs and adjust the attribute bonuses to modern. That way you still get the feel of the original and the D20 system is great for character advancement.

As with every time someone asks after a system I will pimp the FUDGE system. It's crazy free form, and with very little work can be adjusted for whatever you want. If you could wade through a palladium game you can definitely adjust it to work for TMNT or any other universe you want. Plus it has systems for leveling the playing field for characters of different power levels and having them all remain viable - the Dresden Files game uses it and playing a vanilla human is as viable as playing a full wizard of the white council.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudge_%28role-playing_game_system%29

http://www.fudgerpg.com/about/about-fudge/fudge-overview.html

Savage Worlds is usually a good go-to system for this kind of thing; the race creation rules give you a good basis for creating your own mutant animal types, and its pulp/multi-genre nature means that it's got stats in the main book for all the gonzo stuff that's likely to come up in a TMNT campaign (ninjas, high tech, time travel, investigation, magic, etc.). It's a pretty fast and simple game to play, but has enough crunch to satisfy folks who are into that.

I'd also take a serious look at the D&D Gamma World game (the one based in 4e D&D) as it has a very similar feel with a smooth, elegant ruleset.

For a RPG/Supers mini game I would recommed Supersystem or Crooked Dice's 7TV..

I would tend towards SuperSystem as its desinged as a supers game , which I think would fit turtles well.

Is your focus on tactical combat or story arcs?

I've used the Mutants and Masterminds system recently, really enjoy it, seen people do TMNT games with it. So thats a possibility. Lots of freedom to make your characters as you see fit.

Meant to get back sooner after my initial question(getting ready to move sucks). Was going to suggest the same as ddogwood did, actually. Both good systems for it, imo.

Man, I'd love to play a TMNT/Mutanimals(LOVED that comic) campaign, but not sure how the RPG scene will be in Montgomery.

 Manchu wrote:
Is your focus on tactical combat or story arcs?

Mostly story, although a combat system superior to Palladium's would be nice (and not hard to pull off I imagine).


Thanks for the suggestions so far folks! Currently looking at Gamma World (remember PA doing a strip on them...) and Savage Worlds, but will definitely look into all suggestions.

The reason I ask is that, if you want a game that is mostly about story then you don't need to use a book that has a bazillion pages on combat -- like many "mainstream" RPGs. I'd say even Savage Worlds is like this. I'll brainstorm some more on this one ...

TMNT was awesome. Agree Palladium rules sets are not particularly balanced, especially when MDC gets involved, like in Rifts.

Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd ed. It's a point-buy system as mentioned before, but incredibly leaning towards fantastic settings like TMNT. The basic gist is rolling 2d6 and trying to get under the number of whatever power/ability score would relate. The DM decides if there are any modifiers. Not much else going on, and it really "makes sense" in an abstract combat sort of way.

 Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:
Big Eyes Small Mouth 2nd ed. It's a point-buy system as mentioned before, but incredibly leaning towards fantastic settings like TMNT. The basic gist is rolling 2d6 and trying to get under the number of whatever power/ability score would relate. The DM decides if there are any modifiers. Not much else going on, and it really "makes sense" in an abstract combat sort of way.

I use BESM 3rd ed. myself for everything Pallidium.

I never tried 3rd simply because I was a big 3.5er at the time as well. It just never became necessary for me. How's it run?

 streamdragon wrote:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangenss was the second RPG I ever picked up, right behind AD&D. My friends and I played many, many hours and it remains one of my favorite settings and ideas for an RPG.

The other day, while watching the newest iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Nickelodeon (not bad, not bad), I was hit with a desire to play it again. Roll up a character, have crazy mutant animal ninja adventures and all that. There's just one problem...


The Palladium system is TERRIBLE. Seriously. I'm not sure if it's the worst system ever designed, but it's definitely up there. Character advancement is basically non-existant. It uses a level system that grants next to nothing as you reach each new level. The stat system is a mess, where the first 15 numbers don't matter at all. The skill system is cumbersome and skills seem arbitrarily handed out. For instance, even using a walkie talkies requires a skill and without that skill, you can't figure out or be taught how to push a button and talk. Craziness.

So, Dakkanauts, I'm looking for a system wherein I could recreate the same feel of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles world. Something flexible enough to allow for meaningful differences between the various animal species, something modern world, etc.

I know there are various point-based games like GURPS or the HEROS/CHAMPIONS systems, but frankly those systems tend to be complete nightmares for character creation. Champions, for instance, practically requires a CPA or accounting degree depending on how much you want to squeeze out of every point available to you. I haven't played GURPS in awhile, but I remember it being a similar system.

Suggstions? Recomendations? Thoughts? Funny stories always welcome.

There's a Tortle race from DR315 pg 72 and you can get ninja rules from Oriental Adventures, and maybe mix it with d20 Modern if you want d20-based games. There's also rules for animal creatures with the Moreau variant, Kenku in D&D for birdmen.

You can also use the 40KRPG, but they don't have rules for animal creatures.

I'd say stick with d20, there's a ton of stuff out there for 3.5/Pathfinder.

--Chris
www,.chrisvalera.com

I loved Palladium when I was younger, but that system is a mess now that I look at it more critically.

Honestly? If I were to run a TMNT game, hands down it would be done with the new Marvel Heroic Roleplay game. I'm almost positive there are datafiles out there for TMNT stuff already. I know there are ones for GIjoe and Street fighter...

a TMNT game in that system would be all kinds of awesome.

 streamdragon wrote:

 Manchu wrote:
Is your focus on tactical combat or story arcs?

Mostly story, although a combat system superior to Palladium's would be nice (and not hard to pull off I imagine).


Thanks for the suggestions so far folks! Currently looking at Gamma World (remember PA doing a strip on them...) and Savage Worlds, but will definitely look into all suggestions.

If you want story, then I would recommend ICONS.

It is a supers game that focuses on the story and keeps the load light on the GM by making the players do all the dice rolling. So if your villain is going to attack a player, the player rolls to see if he defends; if the player attacks, he rolls to attack. This allows the players a little more control in the element of narrating the story and helps keep the GM open for suprises.

They losely based it on the old Marvel FASERIP system where stats are measured on a level between 1-10, with five being about average for a superhero.

Alternatively, if you want a free system to use, you can find the Marvel FASERIP system for free online through some websites.

I also want to second Savage Worlds and Gamma World 4e...both are good systems but might not be quite what you want if you want more story.

I don't blame you for being against to using Palladium. That was my system of choice for many years until I started to play 3e and saw how much more fluid it could be. I have a friend who still plays Palladium and says it is a good system; and then admits to not playing it Rules As Written...I then smirk and tell him to play it like it is in the book and talk to me about it being a "good system".