The Marvel Superheroes Transformers Sourcebook Introduction 'We come from the planet Cybertron' - Optimus Prime in Man of Iron part 3 (UK #11) In 1984, a company called TSR released a roleplaying game based in the fictional universe created by Marvel Comics for its superhero characters. Until the early 1990s, TSR produced a wide range of supplements and rule revisions. This game was probably the most successful RPG in the superhero genre, and there are still people playing it today. Also in 1984, Hasbro Inc. launched a new range of toys – robots that could be turned into vehicles, weapons, and other things. They licensed out the rights to produce a comic based on these toys to Marvel Comics, who continued to print this comic in both the US and the UK until the early 1990s. Although Marvel officially declared the comic to be non-canon with respect to the Marvel Universe, early issues featured the Transformers interacting with Marvel's original characters. This sourcebook and its accompanying roster books are designed to bring the Marvel Roleplaying Game and the Marvel Transformers Comic together. It is an attempt to translate the Transformers of that period into the rules of the game. It draws on both US and UK comics, and the Transformers Universe character profiles, and statistics are compiled with reference to the characters' tech specs from the toy boxes. It does not reference any of the many other Transformers continuities, because character power levels vary wildly between continuities. If you want to create a sourcebook for another continuity, feel free to adapt the rules and statistics from this one. Contents Introduction and Contents Page 1 A Little History Page 2 Karma and Popularity Page 3 Size Matters Page 4 Transformer Powers Page 5 Transformer Talents Page 9 Transformers in Combat Page 10 Transformer Technology Page 12 Other Information Page 13 Running a Campaign Page 14 Generating Transformers from Tech Specs Page 18 This sourcebook is an unofficial expansion of the Marvel Superheroes Roleplaying Game, a product created by TSR inc. TSR inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a division of Hasbro, Inc. The names of characters created for the Marvel Transformers comic and the distinctive likenesses thereof are Trademarks and © of Marvel Characters, Inc. and are used without permission. The names of characters created for the Transformers toy range and the distinctive likenesses thereof are Trademarks and © of Hasbro, Inc. and are used without permission. This sourcebook is not intended to infringe on any copyrights or trademarks. It is written as a resource to players of a game that is no longer in production. A Little History 'Perhaps you have the right to know of your heritage.' - The Keeper in Primal Scream (US #61) To understand the Transformers, you have to know a bit of their history. The Transformers (who could transform between two different modes) were originally created by the godlike being called Primus to battle his ancient enemy Unicron. Initially they reproduced by a process similar to cell division, but that ability was forgotten by the time we first met them. The Transformers' sacred lifeforce, the Creation Matrix, was capable of both creating a Transformer life and of destroying Unicron, and it eventually came into the hands of Autobot leader Optimus Prime. The Transformers had a fairly happy existence until a Transformer called Megatron created the Decepticons, a group of Transformers bent on conquest. They began a war with the noble Autobots for control of Cybertron. During the conflict, Cybertron left its orbit and wandered into our Solar System. Optimus Prime led a crack team of Autobots to clear a path through the Asteroid Belt for Cybertron, using a spacecraft called the Ark. The Decepticons attacked the Autobots just after they had finished and, in desperation, Prime sent the Ark crashing into Earth. Four million years later (around 1984 or 1985), the Ark was awakened by a volcanic eruption. It reassembled some Transformers from each side into the form of human vehicles. The war continued on Earth and, on one occasion, dragged in the costumed hero Spider Man. When the two factions regained contact with Cybertron, they discovered that the Decepticons had won the war there, but that there was a strong Autobot resistance movement, and the scale of the war on Earth upped. One of the Autobot resistance cells on Cybertron was led by Fortress Maximus. He tired of the war and took his Autobots to the planet Nebulos. He was followed by the local Decepticon leader Scorponok. On Nebulos the two factions discovered binary bonding, a process by which Transformers could bond with a nebulon (or human), becoming more powerful. These Headmasters and Targetmasters, later joined by Pretenders (who had outer shells looking like organic beings) and Powermasters, eventually ended up on Earth. Events in the war eventually led to the appearance of Unicron (in the early 1990's Earth time), and an alliance of Autobots and Decepticons defeated the planet-eating God at a huge price. Cybertron appeared to be self-destructing and both groups left. The Autobots discovered that Cybertron was actually rebuilding itself and they resettled it. The Decepticons, finally beaten, retreated to another part of space. This situation was not to last. Within a few years, the two Transformer factions soon came into conflict with a third faction, the "second generation" Cybertronians. These Transformers had rediscovered the cellular method of reproduction, and lost all morality and passion. Many of them were destroyed by the Swarm, a dangerous by-product of the reproduction process. However, the vast majority were not involved in the conflicts with the original Transformers. The history of the Transformers marooned on Earth was also affected by time travellers from an alternate future. In this timeline, Unicron did not appear until 2006 and the Autobots and Decepticons had not met the second generation Cybertronians. Unicron was defeated as before, but he came back on a number of occasions. During the course of events in this timeline, a number of Transformers travelled back to the more familiar timeline. Death's Head, a Transformer-sized robot also existed in this timeline and the time- travelling activities of the Transformers led him to become involved in the mainstream Marvel Universe. Karma and Popularity 'I had somehow expected better of the near legendary Megatron' – Lord Straxus in Under Fire (UK #99) Karma Awards There is very little difference between the Karma awards given to Autobots and those given to superheroes, or those given to Decepticons and those given to supervillains. The main difference is on the issue of death. A Transformer never loses karma for killing any Transformer who is on the opposite side of the war. The reason for this is firstly that, after four million years of constant warfare, very few Transformers would have any scruples about killing one of their enemies, even in cold blood. The second is that a Transformer is only truly dead if their brain circuitry is completely destroyed. Most Transformer “deaths” are not fatal in this way. However, an Autobot who has a genuine chance to take prisoners will lose 20 Karma points for killing them instead. Popularity Rules Popularity and Humanity A Transformer's popularity amongst humans is handled in a similar way to that of a Mutant's. All popularity gains or losses are reduced by one point. However, Transformers are even more hampered in their ability to gain or lose popularity by the simple fact that humans have difficulty telling one shapechanging giant robot from another. Therefore, changes in popularity will only ever be effective if the Transformer in question can be individually identified by the average human. This popularity rule does not apply to Micromasters. It also doesn't apply to Transformers who are not in robot mode or who are in Pretender shells. Although most Transformers have alt-modes where popularity doesn't apply. Popularity and Transformers Transformers popularity amongst themselves is separate from their popularity amongst humans. In general, Autobots have positive popularity, and Decepticons have negative popularity. However, the way popularity feats work between Transformers is slightly unusual. When trying a popularity FEAT to convince a Decepticon, the signs are reversed. Hence another Decepticon will be considered to have positive popularity and an Autobot to have negative popularity. No Karma is lost from making this popularity FEAT. You can generate Transformers just like any other character using the rules in the Players' book, or the Ultimate Powers book, or your favourite house rule variations. At the end of this sourcebook, we present rules for generating characters from tech specs. Future versions of this sourcebook will include more details on random generation of Transformer characters. This section covers some of the unique abilities of Transformers. Size Matters 'Watcha gonna do? Punch out my kneecaps?' - a Decepticon in A Small War (UK #232) As anybody familiar with the subject knows, Transformers are much larger and more powerful than humans, varying in size from seven foot tall Micromasters to the 2,000 foot tall Metroplex. This increased size and scale affects a whole chunk of game mechanics. Although the artists are often inconsistent about the relative scale of things, the following table best illustrates size categories: Height Table Size Examples 1 inch – 2 feet Soundwave or spy cassettes in