Renegade Game Studios

No word yet on if they're creating a GoBots roleplaying game or not.

Renegade Game Studios is a game development and publishing company based in San Diego, California. The company was founded in 2014 by game-development veteran Scott Gaeta, who also acts as president and publisher.^[1] Some of Renegade's most popular titles include Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, Clank! A Deck-Building Adventure, and the roleplaying games Vampire: The Masquerade and Kids on Bikes.^[2]

Renegade has published a large number of licensed games, including games tied to Gudetama, Aggretsuko, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Since 2020, the studio has been involved in creating games based on popular Hasbro properties, such as Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and Transformers.

Games based on Hasbro Licenses

• G.I. Joe Mission Critical (board game)
• G.I. Joe Deck-Building Game (collectible card game)
• G.I. Joe Roleplaying Game (roleplaying game)
• My Little Pony: Adventures in Equestria Deck-Buiding Game (collectible card game)
• My Little Pony Roleplaying Game (roleplaying game)
• Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid (board game)
• Power Rangers Deck-Building Game (collectible card game)
• Power Rangers Roleplaying Game (roleplaying game)
• Transformers Deck-Building Game (collectible card game)
• Transformers Roleplaying Game (roleplaying game)

Essence20

When Renegade and Hasbro first announced their intentions of creating roleplaying games based on some of Hasbro's most prominent properties, it was stated that the games' would be using the ruleset of 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons — itself published by Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast.^[3] However, partway into the development, the team realized that the 5th edition system wouldn't allow for the bombastic action and cinematic adventures they had envisioned for these games.

As a result, they created a wholly new system, dubbed "Essence20", to be used in all of their Hasbro-licensed roleplaying games, with the shared system compatibility potentially opening the door for ambitious GMs to craft crossover campaigns between Hasbro's different properties.^[4]

Essence20, much like 5th edition D&D, is heavily based on the d20 (20-sided die), which players will roll to determine the outcome of situations, interactions, and combat. Unlike D&D, which by default uses a static "proficiency bonus", Essence20 instead uses "skill dice" which range from a d2 (a coin) to a d20. A character's skill dice are determined by their level of specialization in a skill. A higher level of skill allows the player to not only roll the dice of their level, but also every dice of the previous levels of specialization — choosing the highest result of any die rolled to add to the roll of their d20. Furthermore, if any of the dice rolled shows the max value of the die the roll is regarded as a "critical success" — which is good. This system ensures that the chance of success is incredibly high compared to D&D, something that is meant to lead to explosive action and great roleplaying.

Using Essence20, characters are created by assigning an Origin (what type of person they are), Role (their place in the party), and Influence (what led them to become an adventurer). Each of these aspects provides a character with skills and abilities based on the "4 S's"; Strength, Speed, Smarts, and Social. Something that is meant to "give an amazing depth and breadth to the variety of characters that a player can create".^[5]

References

External links

Official website of Renegade Game Studios