So I'll be the first to admit I like Transformers, not the biggest fan ever but it's a Franchise I grew up with and have had some fond memories of.

I had a oneshot concept planned for a group of players, basically retelling a part of the Cybertronian war and the great exodus period. the objective of the game is for them to get a ship and leave cyberstron.

I burrowed a copy of the Hasbro Transformers RPG made on the Essence20 system and was pretty disappointed with it, since I think Essence20 is kind of baseline just a 5th edition D&D hack. which I don't think fit Transformers.

Anyway later I stumbled on a fan project through a few connections called Pax Cybertronia, which is a fan game covering everything Transformers related and a system built for Transformers in mind from the ground up, pretty sleek and I believe (though need to actually play with it to confirm) represents Transformers well.

The other officially licensed game I was not thrilled with was the Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG. it sucked pretty hard and being fairly generic PTBA slop.

Likewise anything good for Mystera nowadays is pretty much all fan stuff on the Vaults of Pandius or by Mr. Welch, though in that instance WOTC isn't really making anything for Mystera anymore so no real comparison to be drawn.

TL;DR: Any fan games which you have found to be better than the officially licensed version of?

I'd answer, but I'm afraid you'd only make another sandwich chart.

West End Games Star Wars is one of the greatest RPGs ever made.  Full stop.  No qualifiers.

The Alien and Bladerunner games from Free League are both excellent and some of the better Year Zero Engine adaptations since the first game, Mutant: Year Zero.

Dragon Age from Green Ronin is excellent as well.  Despite the turn the company has made since then, I give credit where credit is due.

OTOH, Renegade Game Studios is a flaming pile of shit that can't die soon enough.  I have their Altered Carbon book and I very much feel it was a scam.  It's a full on rip off of Savage Worlds mechanics only inverted so the math breaks down. 

Dragon Ball Universe is a fanmade RPG that is much better than the official one, which was a complete dumpster fire, so no surprise there.

Link here: https://dbu-rpg.com/
Introduced it to a few friends, the Namekians were more popular than I thought.

When I only read the title of the thread, I thought, "Transformers".

Could you link Pax Cybertronica? I'd like to suggest it for the franchise RPG spreadsheet but it's not showing up lol.

If I run Transformers, it will be using Tiny-D6 Mecha and Monsters.

Star Wars would be Mini-Six: Bare Bones Edition.

Marvel Superheroes I go back to Tiny-D6 again.  Tiny Supers

These games are all rules lite stuff, which is my preferred method.  I don't have time for giant rulebooks that have night fighting, in the rain, while you're blind in one eye.

Quote from: Witch Hunter Siegfried on March 16, 2025, 01:26:06 AMCould you link Pax Cybertronica? I'd like to suggest it for the franchise RPG spreadsheet but it's not showing up lol.

Here is a google doc link to the rules

Quote from: Socratic-DM on March 16, 2025, 03:14:32 PM

Quote from: Witch Hunter Siegfried on March 16, 2025, 01:26:06 AMCould you link Pax Cybertronica? I'd like to suggest it for the franchise RPG spreadsheet but it's not showing up lol.

Here is a google doc link to the rules

TY

Often.  Ever see the "Fururama: Now with Dice!" game? The various Mass Effect fan-made games are better than any trash that present day BioWare (vomit)  would approve.

In the Mass Effect category, I've had fun with Once More into the Void.  It's inspired by ME2 and the loyalty missions.  It might be too narrative for some, but it worked really well as a solo game for me.

That Transformers game is hot garbage, honestly. It uses the same rules as the GI Joe game, right? How do you fuck those up...glad I got my money back for that crap.

Anyway, while I like MERP quite a bit, I looked for a less lethal Middle Earth game. The One Ring sucks, in my opinion, and I sold it and everything I had for it because after a couple sessions of play I just found it to be super boring and lame. Adventures in Middle Earth is just D&D 5th with a thin veneer and again not that cool.

Lo and behold, something useful from RPG.net:
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/middle-earth-d6-rules-mostly-complete.190283/

That actually...works. Pretty well, I might add. It's a solid, free game.

Quote from: Brad on March 17, 2025, 02:49:55 PMThat Transformers game is hot garbage, honestly. It uses the same rules as the GI Joe game, right? How do you fuck those up...glad I got my money back for that crap.

Anyway, while I like MERP quite a bit, I looked for a less lethal Middle Earth game. The One Ring sucks, in my opinion, and I sold it and everything I had for it because after a couple sessions of play I just found it to be super boring and lame. Adventures in Middle Earth is just D&D 5th with a thin veneer and again not that cool.

Lo and behold, something useful from RPG.net:
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/middle-earth-d6-rules-mostly-complete.190283/

That actually...works. Pretty well, I might add. It's a solid, free game.

Back when I was playing 5th edition I really liked adventurers in middle earth due to it having non-magical class alternatives, allowed you to bring the power-level of 5th edition down to something closer to an old school game. Though I don't really play 5th at all anymore so to each their own.

But indeed it seems RPG.net is good for something, just skimming these rules I might just have to run this! they do look quite solid.

Quote from: Crazy_Blue_Haired_Chick on March 14, 2025, 04:35:17 PMDragon Ball Universe is a fanmade RPG that is much better than the official one, which was a complete dumpster fire, so no surprise there.

(in best Krillin voice) Not gonna argue with you, Bulma. I mean, crazy blue-haired lady and all....





OH GOD NOT IN THE FACE!!!!!

(WHAP!!!)

Quote from: Brad on March 17, 2025, 02:49:55 PMAnyway, while I like MERP quite a bit, I looked for a less lethal Middle Earth game. The One Ring sucks, in my opinion, and I sold it and everything I had for it because after a couple sessions of play I just found it to be super boring and lame. Adventures in Middle Earth is just D&D 5th with a thin veneer and again not that cool.

Lo and behold, something useful from RPG.net:
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/middle-earth-d6-rules-mostly-complete.190283/

That actually...works. Pretty well, I might add. It's a solid, free game.

Looks interesting. I've scanned through it looking for stuff to put into my Savage Worlds Middle Earth games, and I added in some of the formatting. Here's the result:

https://darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/lordoftherings/middle-earth-d6-rules.html