The Energon Pub

RP SESSION LIST:

• Transformers RP Session #1
• Transformers RP Session #2
• Transformers RP Session #3
• Transformers RP Session #4
• Transformers RP Session #5
• Transformers RP Session #6
• Transformers RP Session #7
• Transformers RP Session #8
• Transformers RP Session #9
• Transformers RP Session #10
• Transformers RP Session #11 & #12
• Transformers RP Session #13
• Transformers RP Session #14
• Transformers RP Session #15 part 1 of 3
• Transformers RP Session #15 part 2 of 3
• Transformers RP Session #15 part 3 of 3
• Transformers RP Session #16 part 1 of 2
• Transformers RP Session #16 part 2 of 2

(Maria moves Optimus Prime to melee range.)

ORIGINAL POST:
I recently got back into Transformers; I have four children, three girls ages 10, 7 & 5, and a 2.5 year-old baby boy. These are our stories.

Deeper Explaination: Skip if you like
I assume writing up role-playing synopsis is akin to fan-fiction, so this post must belong here. If this does not appeal to you, then do not read it: TMTNDR and PDNR.

This big, bad long text is me and my daughter's setting for our Transformers and Knock-Offs, as well as our first RP session with them, which is different than the random "transform, shoot at each other" play we've had up until now. After this session, my daughters were hooked, though they'd enjoyed them already. As my 10yo daughter said "It's so cool that we can just talk and do what they do." Put one storyteller and two little girls together and that'd be the response I'd expect. My 2.5yo son and 5yo daughter enjoyed this too.

Scale:
Before we can explain setting, we must first explain scale. Scale is an ongoing issue since the Diaclone and Microman toylines were repurposed as Transformers, and has never let up. (See the Transformers Wiki on: Scale).

That aside, fans probably have varying ways of accounting for it.

As a child playing with the G1 toys, I simply assumed that, while I knew the scales were off, in my fiction, that's just the way they were. There were super big trucks and super small tanks. Since my toys couldn't magically change size, I didn't do that, exceptions being Soundwave & crew, etc. (I always wanted him to come with a small piece of plastic that was "him", transformed.)

Playing with my children today, we came up with a more inventive solution: Matchbox cars are the actual car size, making (Classics) Optimus Prime & Mirage overly big and humans, tiny; Humans mix vehicle sizes since their world has changed since 1984.

We had to settle on Matchbox cars or die-cast cars roughly the size of Mirage; either the mini Transformers were tiny cars, planes and tanks, or they were slightly big, and everyone else was huge. Matchbox won out because my son has 30+ of them, and only 8 die-cast cars. Props matter.

Inclusion of Other Toys:
Since humans are hostile to all Transformers after the alternate end to my childhood stories, my son's toy tanks and mecha are great "Human Solutions" to the "Autobot and Decepticon Problem."

Our Fiction:
Before the Great Cataclysmic War of 1989, which Optimus Prime only alluded to the newly awakened Autobots, in which basically all the toys I had and lost were destroyed in a horrific war (fictionally speaking), the Autobots destroyed all data humans had on their technology they could find, both by physical and digital means, ordered by Autobot High Command in space. This created a strong animosity between Humans and all Transformers.

Optimus Prime, in my stories, was simply the leader of the Autobots on Earth.

18 years later (from 1989), Cyberton having forbidden Transformers from traveling to Earth, two renegade Autobots have returned: Optimus Prime and Mirage. Unearthing Teletraan 1, which was left behind along with Grimlock and the Omnibots, they built new mini Autobots (the Knock-Offs of different combining Transformers). They have been unable to locate Grimlock or the Omnibots.

Old Conflict, Renewed:
The reason Optimus Prime came is that he knows a clone of Megatron (Armada Megatron, a tank), has defected from Decepticon command and arrived here, along with his Lieutenant, SkyShadow, and three mercenaries, Slipstream, Scalper and Driller, who gestalt into "Krieg." They have already set up a base and created small Decepticons of their own (again, Knock-Offs of different combining Transformers).

How Death Works:
Although Prime died on Earth in the Great Cataclysmic War, like all Transformers in my fictions, they are difficult to kill; so long as their memories remain, and a processing core compatible with their coding (either equally or more powerful than the original), they can be rebuilt. This, too, explains the clones of many Transformers, such as the renegade Megatron, and why Megatron has "existed" for hundreds of millions of years.

In my childhood, Transformers would be destroyed and rebuilt several times, only losing the memories of the time between their last "back-up". As machines, they just view life differently than people, and the Autobots understanding of natural life versus those of machines is one of their humanistic qualities; Decepticons care little for these things.

Different Pre-History:
The Ark crashed several hundred million years prior to 1984. The Dinobots were the first to emerge, molding themselves after the life found on the planet at that time. For eons, they rebuilt themselves and continued their trek across the planet, always guarding the Ark and waiting for word from Autobot High Command, which never came. Eventually a meteorite fell and buried them; as Grimlock later said "We just didn't spend enough time looking to the stars."

The Dinobots weren't dumb, just different. Unearthed millions of years later by the Autobots lead by Optimus Prime, their memories were partly restored by Teletraan 1 on the Ark, which had been running continual repair on itself over the millenia to keep itself in top shape. Grimlock being the leader the Ark chose long ago, but Optimus Prime being the new one, the two settled on Grimlock heading up the role of battlefield commander, and Prime being the overall strategic commander. Sometimes they disagreed, which would get Prime's muffler if it was in front of other Autobots.

The Earth War: 1984-1989
During my stories, Soundwave lead the Decepticons on Earth, while Megatron continued the war from Cyberton.

Hundreds of Millions of years ago, Cyberton itself had nearly been destroyed, and every Transformer was along with it; only a few straggling survivors buried on other planets (like the Earth-bound Autobots) re-emerged after the ages past; for a long time any who returned to Cybertron were destroyed by the nano-virus spread there. Once that was overcome, however, Cybertron was reclaimed circa 1462 A.D. (Easy date for a kid to remember, same as Columbus; my stories were always detailed and still are.)

A clone of Shockwave came to Earth and became the new leader; Soundwave only lead because he had to. Later, Galvatron, a "New Edition" of Megatron, one of numerous clones, arrived; he brought with him the coming of the Great Cataclysmic War on Earth.

You see, Grimlock had lead a number of Autobots onto a Decepticon-held planet and made a successful push there that was countered. All hope lost, Grimlock let lose the "World Bomb", essentially a device capable of creating an Extinction-Level Event on any Earth-sized globe. He made it back by way of teleportation with a few Autobots, and wanted little more of war afterwards. The Decepticon High Command, however, wanted revenge.

Optimus Prime, by this time, was old. He refused to leave his body and lay in the Ark giving orders from there, and sometimes remotely controlled Ultra Magnus, who became his 2nd in command.

Having spent so much time around humans, Optimus Prime had begun to feel that he was more than memories: he was the robot. For this reason, he refused to leave his aging body.

The Great Cataclysmic War:
I never got a chance to "play out" the Great Cataclysmic War because I didn't know it was going to happen; nor would I have wanted it to. My parents lost our horse ranch and me just about every toy with it. Grimlock, the Omnibots and my two Jetfires/Skyfires survived (one mint in box). My mother later gave away my Jetfires without me knowing; that left only four survivors. I thought I still had Topspin, my first Transformer ever (and one of my least favorites) but I didn't find him with my NES things, which I also still have.

2007: Present Day
So today, the Classics Optimus Prime (which belongs to my 10yo daughter) is Optimus Prime, finally in a new body. As with everyone else on Earth, he died in the Great Cataclysmic War; The Ark, before this war, had left Earth, and the parts of Teletraan 1 left behind were incomplete, and unable to back up all of the Autobots. Permanent death ensued for a great many Transformers; Optimus Prime has not said how many. He does know that Teletraan 1 saved his memories because it deemed him more valuable, something that weighs upon him.

Grimlock and the Omnibots survived the War, in which the humans participated in slaughtering all Transformers after the Autobots and Decepticons nearly ended each other; Grim, Overdrive, Camshaft and Downshift went into hiding.

(This is especially disconcerting for my 10yo daughter, because she knows I have both my G1 Grimlock and my "Robots in Disguise" Classic Grimlock still in its box. She wants Grimlock to return, but I am unwilling to open his box, nor use my G1 figure.)

The Autobots feature only:

• Optimus Prime (Classics Voyager)
• Mirage (Classics)
• Emergency & Rescue (mini Knock-offs)
• Brute & Recon (mini Knock-offs)
• Chaser & Chip (mini Knock-offs)
• Firefox & Harrier (mini Knock-offs)

The First Role-Play Session:
My 10yo daughter made me role-play Prime to help her get ready to fill his shoes. She took control of various knock-offs, as did my 7yo daughter, Dulce. Jose Francisco, my 2yo son, spoke Cybertonese, and we'd act like we understood him and answer in such a way as to make it obvious what he said; he loved this, discovering that you could do more with Transformers than shoot each other, and kept talking and listening. He started practice fighting with laser-beams later.

I had to get into the moment to take up Prime; it had been a long time, but having seen the G1 Cartoon episodes 1-7, the feeling had come back. Before Prime, in the largest doll-house, which was their new base, were all the mini Knock-Offs and Mirage, transformed into vehicles. That wouldn't do for a meeting, my first words with Prime were fittingly:

"Autobots: Transform."

My daughters sighed and giggled. We transformed everyone into robot mode.

Prime explained that it had been a long time since the Autobots last came to Earth, and that all of the mini Knock-Offs were newly created Autobots (which explained their lack of stickers, which the little guys complained about later). He explained their roles and the buddy system he expected them to use; the Decepticon threat and their superiority, and that he had put out a call for Starfire, but that his old friend could be many parsecs away (7-10 days shipping).

Prime explained that all Autobots have mini-hologram generators which will blend their seams, so humans won't be able to tell they are Transformers. Decepticons, of course, can see right through this, so the disguise won't work against them. Here too, when asked about the Doll House decorations they were surrounded by, Prime said "Those, too, are holograms; however, by our eyes they look flat and unrealistic, but to human eyes, they will look real."

My daughters smiled at that.

Note on Starfire/Jetfire/Skyfire:
Optimus Prime has sent a message calling Starfire (what I called Jetfire/Skyfire), but does not know how long it will take his old friend to arrive, but that, given Starfire's intellect and distaste for war and the Autobot High Command, he is sure to come. (Classics Jetfire is on order from Hasbro, as is Jazz, which Prime is not aware of: Starfire is bringing along an old buddy who defected with him; not that Starfire had to defect, he was never a soldier under Autobot High Command's control).

Back to Role-Play:
Brute, Recon and Chaser went out on the road; (Brute played by Maria, Chaser by myself and Recon by Dulce) we set up a freeway and put a lot of Matchbox cars on it. Brute hadn't bothered computer speed-reading the laws on traffic, which was problematic because he is a miniature tank. Chaser, a patrol car, quickly became the group's watchdog. Recon, while certainly a follower, provided his own quips.

Firefox and Harrier, two Autobot mini-jets played by myself and Maria, took to the air, and ran into Hawk, a Decepticon mini-jet Knock-Off played by Dulce. She attacked us, and the two Autobots quickly out-gunned Hawk. Foolishly, Dulce had Hawk fly back to the Decepticon Base, whereupon (Armada) Megatron blasted Hawk with his main battle cannon, destroying him for his idiocy, undoubtedly to be rebuilt later, perhaps the wiser. Megatron sent Laserbeak ("Real Gear" Booster X10) to follow the Autobots; Laserbeak's new power was turning invisible like Mirage, but Prime doesn't know that so the data he gave the brand-new Autobots omitted this ability.

Firefox and Harrier, however, were overly wary about being followed, and flew to Japan before heading back home. By that time, Laserbeak had grown tired of following them and returned home; two dice rolls failed to let the Autobots see him, nor get the Autobots to feel less paranoid. They returned and told Prime the good news: they now knew where the Decepticons were.

That ended our role-play and fun and games, as everyone but my oldest had to go to bed.

Current Situation:
As it stands, the Autobots are hopelessly outgunned if a full battle happened, so Prime ordered that, at all costs, their new base must be kept secret; even human governments might seek to destroy them.

On order, "Movie Deluxe" Jazz, my 10yo daughter bought with her own money (she paid me, I bought him online); "Classics" Starfire/Jetfire is mine.

That's all we know, for now. We haven't played the Decepticons yet.

Whoa dude, you got this all worked out.
I love the way you've stuck by your childhood views.

Man...I wish i had children to play Transformers with.

Brb: Mating.

I can't wait til my two boys can do stuff like that. I don't have girls to do mommy-daughter things, so I will do boy stuff instead. My oldest LOVES my Transformers, and it'll be nice when he can really use his imagination more. And it's always nice to see parents involved with their kids like that.

GOOO PASKY! I didn't end up with four children by being inert.

Moonbase2: I feel your pain he he he. Jose Francisco is easily as much trouble as having two or three of our girls at once. He's obedient; you can give him an order, but he's also driven, so he has to be doing something, finding a challenge, or he's not content. Climbing the baby barrier at 17 months, growling at Papa for reprimanding his sisters at 9 months, at 2.5 he's quite the baby boy. I would love to have more boys (we can't have any more, doctor's orders) but it was a real shocker for a father of 3 girls to have a boy I thought I was going to be like Papa Frank - the father of many girls.

Transformers: RP Session 2

We barely got started with the Decepticons; Maria played Megatron. I gave her some pointers on things he would and wouldn't do:

• Never admit fault of his own.
• Never admit a weakness. "Optimus Prime has a new weapon; but my main battle cannon is superior."
• If someone goes wrong, it's because one of his Decepticons did it.
• If something goes right, it's because of his leadership.

Jose Francisco kept interrupting play this time, rather than cooperating as with the first session, and after a few suggestions, we weren't going to press him to do what we wanted. With Jose Francisco, you can explain your case and make sure he understands; if he does not respond to this, and it is not an issue of obedience (in which case, there would be no explanation anyway, just "ZE ORDAH!" [the order]), then we let him be. It is more than enough that he responds to orders and he knows the difference between something we'd like him to do, and his duty as a son and a brother, which are things he must do.

DVD 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime reviews on YouTube
After 4 or 5 resets Maria and I gave up and watched YouTube reviews of "Classics" Optimus Prime ($20) and Mirage ($5 on clearance), and of the "DVD 20th Anniversary" Optimus Prime ($70-100) which I don't have.

Watching those reviews pretty much cured me of wanting the toy for a couple of reasons:

1. The toy is so heavy its joints have trouble staying in place, which means if they start out bad, playing with them (which I would) would destroy them.
2. The side and back of the semi-truck look awful. There are no side windows and you can see part of Optimus Prime's bicep untransformed between a very wide seam, let's just call it an open seam.
3. While the hands are articulate, along with every finger, it seemed to be difficult for people to make them hold something.
4. I realized it's a big display piece for collectors, not something fun to use. For $60, I could get 3 to 6 other Transformers, plus tax.

That's news.

I read your other posts and saw your question about why girls like TF and not soldiers.
Whilst Transformers was practically my life, i never ever had an Action Man or G.I.Joe. I had the odd Spider-man and other super hero figure, but they weren't "realistic" men, they had masks or cool features, i always found action figures appealing as opposed to Action Man, which, quite bluntly, i found cheesy and boring.

But Transformers! Now, Transformers were robots, not man-made robots who couldn't think for themselves, but robots like people, with deep minds and emotions, and most of all, they could transform! Whilst Minicons and Cyber-Planet Keys are all little gimmicks the new generation finds awesome, the thrill of the gimmick which gave the franchise it's name is pure genius. They don't turn from cars into cars with legs. No, they turned into robots which look and act more like humans!
Another reason which i personally disliked toy soldiers (well, it depends what counts as "toy soldiers", me and my brother used to have huge wars with the "action figures" in our room, so i suppose you could, at a pinch, call them "soldiers", but not for this point) is that i was really the only person who liked Transformers during my childhood, (xD "Childhood" i'm only 15! I used to have nearly all the 80's series on tape, i was hooked after i got my first tape when i was around 3), I can only recall my friend who was older than me liking it, as he could probably remember the final lines of the G1 toylines and the re-runs on tv.
Even today i find i'm the only person in my age group who really knows their G1. When i first talked to some of my newer friends about TF, they were like "That Armarda thingy?", and i despaired and had to point out "No, the original 80's one", though after a long chat one of them said he did remember liking Beast Wars, which was enough for me.

Pasky: Man, I'm glad you are into it. I think what you're saying makes sense with what his happening with my daughters. Robots who are vehicles was fun, but now that they get to play out their personalities and emotions - heck, that's little girl heaven...

3rd RP SESSION

The Cast:
Last night, 2.5yo Jose Francisco was cooperative and, shortly after, not present.

7yo Dulce Maria tried her hand at playing Megatron. She/Megatron sent the Knock-Off Constructicons out to look for supplies, but gave no specific orders about not alerting humans to their return to Earth.

10yo Maria de Guadalupe took control of Crane and Drilldozer, while Dulce played Bulldozer and Herc. 5yo Alejandrita (Alay-hon-dri-ta) played Hawk, since Jose took Streak to bed with him. Pictures:{Herc, Drilldozer} {Crane, Bulldozer} {Streak and Firefox (not used, but they are shaped like Hawk, who is gray)}

The Adventure:
The girls set about sacking a construction yard next to a parking lot (complete with about 20 Matchbox cars all set up in parked positions). To show girls how the game worked, and to have a little fun, I had Optimus Prime and Mirage {Prime, Mirage & Laserbeak pictured} roll into the parking lot.

I told the girls "In this alternate human world, since their world was changed starting with the Transformers' arrival in 1984, now it is rather common to have double-lane vehicles; like real semi-trucks today, they can't go down residential streets." What I haven't told them is what kind of huge weaponry humans have developed; not all Transformer technology was wiped out by the Autobots.

Maria said "I can understand a big truck, but why would people need a giant race car?"

I answered "This (pointing at Mirage), assuming it was a human-built race car, could go way faster than that (Matchbox) Ford Mustang over there.

We made some dice rolls, and Prime and Mirage, while pulling into the parking lot, spotted the Decepticons first, despite their numbers. Optimus Prime was about to double-park, but pulled out and rolled into the construction site as if nothing was amiss. I had my girls roll again and a few Decepticons noticed there was encrypted communications going on between the giant semi-truck and the giant race car.

Combat:
The Combaticons all transformed and started to flee. Transformers get a free action right after Transforming, but none of them shot; they all took off. Prime transformed and, instead of using his wind plane as a shield generator, transformed it into a large sniper cannon, and opened fire.

Now the girls got to learn what those stats mean on the back of the boxes: Roll 2d6, add that to the applicable stat. Most of Prime's are 10's, including "Skill." On his lowest possible roll, Prime would make a 12. On their best possible roll (4 base state +6+6 die rolls) the Combaticons could make a 16; it rarely worked out in their favor, however.

Prime hit two Combaticons. Alejandrita was brave and refused to leave Maria and Dulce's characters behind, so Hawk stayed and fired, hitting Optimus Prime; the shot bounced off without leaving a mark (Firepower versus Endurance check). Prime ignored Hawk and refused to shoot Bulldozer, who was trying to get up, and instead leveled his guns at two seperate targets (for a -4 difficulty check) and made glancing blows on each (Herc and Drilldozer). Meanwhile, Mirage had been shooting at Crane.

In the end, Bulldozer got up but was shot while attempting to fly away, and was incapacitated. Hawk stayed there, shooting at Mirage and Optimus, until both Autobots leveled their weapons at him (two of Prime's and one of Mirage's) and all scored hits: since he had been hit three times by that point, Hawk was obliterated. Unable to carry off two fallen Decepticons (Bulldozer and Herc), they nabbed one, put him on the back of Prime in Truck mode, and sped off.

Epilogue:
Crane and Drilldozer made it back to report, but they hadn't seen the whole battle. Megatron was not pleased.

I told the girls "Now you know something about tactics."

"Yes!" Maria said, emphatically.

I continued "Now, if Megatron, SkyShadow and the mercenaries (Slipstream, Scalper & Driller {pictured}) had been there, that would have been a world of bad news for Prime and Mirage."

At any rate, I'm looking forward to the day the humans get a chance to respond with mecha of their own - Jose Francisco has a few toys that dwarf the Transformers and would serve well as the United States' solution to the Transformer problem. After all, I'm sure the U.S. government expected their return.

good job

Yeah, Transformers are complex, not just 'shoot to kill' or 'fire at will'.
The plots are starting to thicken, i'd like to see how the kids will respond to a huge mech.
I always used to include random inanimated things taht weren't even toys, for example there may be a radio, which is used as a computer, which the Autobots find and somehow use, or a pile of cushions can create an avalanche, and sometimes i included non TF toys to either help or hinder their missions, like Spider-man might help the Autobots, or an Alien might take on both the Autobots and Decepticons, and they'd have to develop a new tactic to overcome it.

If course, the slipper-comet/meteor can never go a miss, any characters it hits or eitehr dead or in the mmedi-bay for a long time.

Very Good!!!!!!! Can't think of anything at this moment.

BIG, HUGE UPDATE:
Session 5 part by part with pictures for every part!

I really outdid myself here. If you want to see how to have some fun with your kids and your Transformers, heck, even your buds (just add beer or whatever), you might find this worthwhile.

BEST PICS IN THIS SESSION:

great pictures dude..

do you actually use a standard RPG system or thought of something yourself?

neliz wrote:great pictures dude..
do you actually use a standard RPG system or thought of something yourself?

Taken from the post:
BATTLE RULES: As you can see, we use 2d6 for most rolls; you take a Transformer's base stats from the back of their box and roll 2d6 with it. To do a ranged attack, roll 2d6 and add it to your Transformer's Skill. To dodge (once per turn) an incoming shot, roll 2d6 and add it to your Speed. Every shot after that will hit you if the attacker's roll is greater than your speed.

Then you roll 2d6+Fireblast (attacker) versus 2d6+Endurance (victim) to see if the hit is moderate or severe.

Smaller Transformers do no damage to large ones on a moderate hit, and one point on a severe. Equal sized Transformers do either one or two points of damage per hit. A larger Transformer will do two to three points of damage to a smaller one. A Transformer is down once it has taken as many points of damage as it has Endurance, and completely destroyed beyond repair once it has taken twice as much damage as its Endurance. Nanobots in all Transformers continually attempt to repair them.

thanks (my bad I didn't actually check your blog, just your posts)

I need to get people dedicated to this as much as they are to warhammer.. that'd be great fun..

You know I never knew Optimus was inclined that way enough to change the Autobot base's interior to that. ANd it appears that their neighborhood can't get a good signal, Teletraan-1 is all blurry. I blame their bad neighbors who live across the road.

Bur seriously, where do you live? I wanna come to one of your RP sessions xD. Please, do keep on putting all the detail into these posts, they convey an interesting insight into your own fiction. Though I gotta say I missed seeing the human's mechs.

Did you ever read the Marvel comic "Plague of the Insecticons"? The Insecticons interupt an Autobot meeting with the President, and claim to be the Autobots and thus turn the Government (temporarily) against the Autobots.

P.s. Where'd you order Soundwave from?

Neliz
He he no worries man, it's a large post.

Manly Pink
I should have included this image to put things into proper perspective:


Heh, yes the Autobot base is rather pink; my brother and I weren't going to repaint both large doll-houses, so the Autobot base serves a dual purpose. Funny you should mention the neighbors, because as the Game Master I've been watching to see if the girls are careless about how their enter and leave the base. So far they're always transformed into vehicles, but how many old warehouses do you know that has jets take off from it?

Where We Be
We live in North-Central Florida. Anyone in that area is welcome to PM me.

Human Mecha
I know of two perfect toys to handle the job of being human mechs; they don't look like MechWarrior stuff but they do look like large robotic monstrocities with huge guns. Pictures will come with the eventual encounter.

There's a few others that would be good for encounters; the girls got all nervous on Sunday when I dug these toys up and made sure we found the pieces my son removed. I wouldn't tell them why we were doing it.

Why be nervous? Well one mech in particular is twice as tall & wide as Optimus Prime.

Soundwave
Big Bad Toy Store has Soundwave (including Ravage & Laserbeak); BBTS seems to actually be an entire website dedicated to determining whether or not the person using it is a fool, based on some of the prices I've seen. Choose wisely.

I'm sure Megs will assume it's a Beverly Hills type girl who lives there and goes shopping in her private jet.

Oh, and if you want the girls to get nervous, find the most redicolously over-sized thing to use as a transport ship. Even if it is just a cardboard box cleverly cut into shape and spray-painted. Even if the Mechs are useless against the TFs, Megatron will surely flee to leave it up to the Autobots, which will require a lot of tactics.

We had a game last night, this time as the Decepticons. Basically, the RP centered around fending off the Autobots, who did come to attack the base, then licking wounds for five days, and then trying to think of a way to lure Soundwave to Earth. By this point, only my 10yo was still up, so we talked about his personality and I let her try to think of things that might hook him. She couldn't come up with much, so we got to talking about Megatron and why he came...

"Try to think about what Megatron has done, and that may help you answer what his plans are. So far, he has defected from Decepticon High Command's control and gone to a forbidden planet. All right. So whatever he is doing is either worse than these things, or will wash it all away. Think of a bank robber, who steals a car so he can have a getaway vehicle. He really doesn't care about stealing a car, he's going to rob a bank. In other words, he's going to do something worse, so a forbidden planet doesn't bother him. Or, he's going to reverse the situation. What do all Decepticons covet?"

On her third try, because I kept answering "It's more basic than that," she said "Power."

"All right. So if Decepticons desire power, what might make them forget that Megatron disobeyed them?"

Maria answered "If he becomes more powerful."

I said "Ahhh. And lastly, he might have already done something so bad that the Decepticon High Command wants him destroyed, does he care about coming to a forbidden planet?"

Maria said "No. They're already after him."

"So he doesn't care about getting in a little additional trouble. For all we know, he's already wanted for doing something bad before, he's on the run, why not come here?"

"So, there you have it, three possibilities. Now, because I play Megatron and you play Prime, you are going to have to figure out what the truth is. Megatron won't tell the other Decepticons the whole truth. So I'm afraid you're going to have to wait and figure it out."

That concluded our evening.

See my Photoblog on this event
http://www.photoblog.com/DavidBeoulve/2007/08/14/

I've really enjoyed reading all of this, it takes me right back to being an eight-year-old again. I remember the games with figures I used to play with my bro and my best friend were so much more detailed and inventive than simply mashing them together and shouting "youre dead!" Even as kids we payed so much attention to things such as scale and scenery.

We still regularly reminisce about all that stuff, even though we're all pushing 30. I'd post more but I don't want to bog down your thread with my inane blitherings.

Keep updating!

slycherrychunks, Please post more, it's the replies I get that make me feel good

Transformers: RP Session 7
Last night we played the Autobots, although little was accomplished due to:

1. Jose Francisco.
2. Dulce deciding it was a great evening to cry.

We did, however, have some fun having the Autobots talk about their take on the action in RP Session #5, which was drastically different than how the Decepticons felt. Essentially it was like an Azumanga Daioh episode: a lot of talking and watching personalities play out, and very little else. For me and my firstborn, that was fun.

Different from usual, I played Optimus Prime last night. Usually Maria plays the Autobots she owns (Jazz and Prime).

What did the Autobots say?

xD For me it's hard to imagine TFs and Azumanga going together well.
"Ahhh! Osaka, i mean Prime!!! There's a bug on your face!!! *Does some random animé thing"
"I see, but that pedo teacher has the cat costume on again."

Azumanga is a bit crazy. And aimed for younger japanese girls; I think it's quirky, but doesn't stand up to FlCl, though I can't imagine Prime turning up on a Vespa and having a semi-animated manga with Miraga's Dad about what Fooly Cooly is.
Unless the Vespa was Bumblebee, and the Bass was Soundwave or Blaster.

[off topic]^If you want across between Transformers and FLCL, you should check out Aim For The Top 2: Diebuster.[/off topic]

Heh heh... well I meant to say, the Transformers sometimes engage in quasi random talking, joking, working on Teletraan 1, discussing all of those human customs, and, of course, teh interwebs.

"These are serious internets."

Here it is!
Transformers: RP Session 9

Read all about it.

Daniel you treacherous traitor D=.
The robot looks very 80's, I take it his gun has ne of those awesome flashing LEDs. I take it the helicopter was an early warning for the robot, right?
By the way, when you say 'I'd tell her "Ratchet doesn't notice anything, but that's not the same as there being nothing to notice."' did you or didn't you?
If you did, Maria is nowhere near paranoid enough xD.

P.S.
this pic, should have the caption "Maria says: Don't f wit' Prime!"

Ha ha ha, love the caption.

A friend of mine wrote to me:

RP session #9 was pretty intense. I could see Maria's frustration throughout the pictures. She's a very intuitive girl for being so young. It looks like today's RP session is going to be excellent. I know Optimus Prime doesn't take kindly to betrayals.

Warnings:
Yes, I did tell her that Ratchet didn't notice anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't something to notice. And she knew I was rolling the bones because something was happening externally to her and the Autobots' awareness.

What happened & Why:
She's 10. She couldn't think of a decision and so - made none. The good thing is I'm fairly certain that, not long from now, she'll get the idea that in situations like these, a poor decision now is better than a good decision too late.

It was a difficult game, but having been a DM for so many years, I know that you have to give players hard times so they can feel good about how they dealt with it. It's really as basic as the "Mixed / Dark / Light" of the original three Star Wars movies. Even Lucas knew enough to know he had to make the middle act bad for the good guys.

The Robot:
Chinese special - you know those super-cheap China toys that Wally-World used to have a whole isle dedicated to in most of their stores? Army men, dolls, all kinds of ... not really knock-offs as much as "inspired by" toys. He was $15. The first one didn't work so I took it back, but because my son liked him so much, I got another instead of getting my money back. He still works a year later, though we had to unscrew him and replace his battery already. We're still looking for his shin-guards, Jose Francisco removed them and my wife put them "somewhere safe." She found his arm-guards and one shoulder gun, all of which I super-glued.

Encounter Difficulty Handling:
I'm going to have to sit down with the index cards and figure out the stats of this Robot. There's an index card for every Transformer that lists his stats, current hitpoints (equal to their Endurance) and any other notes (such as Mirage turning invisible).

The great thing about the system we came up with is that it's rather fast and easy, certainly compared to D&D; however, the last few combat sessions have reminded me why, as a kid, I'd pick 3-6 Transformers from each side and play with those. Rolling to attack and then how hard you hit if you hit for every Transformer isn't fun more than once a week. Fortunately, the last big battle was last Saturday.

DavidBeoulve wrote:The great thing about the system we came up with is that it's rather fast and easy, certainly compared to D&D; however, the last few combat sessions have reminded me why, as a kid, I'd pick 3-6 Transformers from each side and play with those. Rolling to attack and then how hard you hit if you hit for every Transformer isn't fun more than once a week. Fortunately, the last big battle was last Saturday.

Be Grateful, there a millions of men out there that spend less time with their kids or actually have fun with their kids.

I for one applaud your work and the interest of the rest of the family for this project. Parenting In Disguise..