Go Crossover Crazy with Renegade Game Studios

By Eric Findlay 

Back in February at RenegadeCon (Renegade's online convention for announcements and panels), Renegade Game Studios announced that 2023 would be a year of crossovers within their games.  At the time, only one crossover product was known: G.I. Joe Deck-Building Game: New Alliances - A Transformers Crossover Expansion.  In this expansion, the Autobots join the Joes to battle the combined forces of Cobra and the Decepticons by gathering and spending Energon dice to contribute extra skills, or by becoming the Transport vehicle that the Joes take into battle.  This G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover expansion is already available, but what else does this year hold in terms of crossover products?

 Coming in September 2023 is another deck-building game expansion.  This one is My Little Pony Deck-Building Game: Collision Course - A Transformers Crossover Expansion.  When Chrysalis' quest for power accidentally causes a space bridge to malfunction and transport the Autobots and Decepticons to Equestria, King Sombra takes advantage of the situation to mind-control several Cybertronians.  Now, to save Equestria, rescue their teammates, and return home, Cybertronians from both factions must team up with the Mane 6 to take on the likes of Chrysalis, Sombra, Discord, Megatron, and more.  Play as Pony-Robot pairs including Applejack & Wildwheel, Fluttershy & Soundwave, or Twilight Sparkle & Optimus Prime.

In addition to the deck-building game crossover expansions, the crossovers will continue over in the Roleplaying Game books.  When Renegade designed the Essence20 system, it was always one of the main goals for each of the books and settings implementing the system to be cross-compatible with each other.  That is, that a Power Ranger, a G.I. Joe, and a Cybertronian could all be on a team together in the same campaign. 

But, while all of these books can be mixed and adventures can be used with characters for each of the different settings, what if a player's dream is to create a Cybertronian Power Ranger who is recruited by G.I. Joe?  How would creating a hybrid, crossover character work?  The answer to these questions lie within the Essence20 Roleplaying System: Field Guide to Action and Adventure crossover sourcebook.  The Field Guide to Action and Adventure is the ultimate guide for both GMs and players to formally mix and match options from across the different Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, and Transformers RPG sourcebooks.  The book is divided into two sections: one for GMs and one for players.

 For players, the Field Guide contains a brief guide to each of the three worlds, tips for character creations, and both basic and advanced instructions on creating crossover characters, including how to swap Role Perks in a Role which are specific to its original setting for the setting-specific Role Perks of its new, crossover setting.  It also has sample crossover characters with explanations of how the character was created.  In addition, it contains new crossover Factions, a new Role, 4 new Origins, 9 new Influences, and almost a dozen new General Perks.  This book has something for players who are fans of all of the settings.

 For GMs, there are plenty of tools for both those who want to run single setting games and crossover setting games.  In addition to the brief guide to each of the three worlds, the Field Guide includes tips on how to crossover and integrate the different settings to different extents, should a GM wish to do so.  There's a chapter for each of Threats, Scenes, and Adventures, and general instructions for designing them in Essence20.  Finally, this book contains a special crossover adventure to get you started! Now, before you start thinking this is a book meant only for experienced and advanced GMs, there is also a wealth of knowledge, hints, tips, tricks, and guides for beginner GMs as well, including those who are simply new to GMing Essence20 and those who are brand new to being any kind of GM.

Continuing with crossover RPG resources, this June's Free RPG Day will see the release of Cobra/Con Fusion, an Essence20 G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover adventure for level 10 characters.  In this adventure, the Joes and 'Bots must team up to take on Fusion, a Cybertronian drone of Megatron which converts to a H.I.S.S. Tank!  This package will contain 6 pre-generated characters (3 for each Faction), and will also include 4 new Threats!

Finally, in August, Renegade will be hosting a massive, multi-table, 3-hour Essence20 crossover event at GenCon!  A confluence of events merges the worlds of Power Rangers, Transformers, and G.I. Joe, and the heroes of these worlds must team up to defeat a new, yet familiar, villain to save and separate their worlds.  Players will encounter several familiar faces as they fight Putties, Vipers, and Insecticons alongside players at their table, as well as players at other tables in the room.  Players will need to split up to accomplish goals over 4 different locations, each containing many challenges and combats, before coming together to face the evil Lord MindWaveZ, himself! 

Whether you enjoy playing the deck-building games or the RPGs, whether you are a fan of Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, Transformers, or My Little Pony, this year will be sure to hold something amazing for you.  Be sure to go to renegadegamestudios.com and sign up for the newsletter to get all the latest information on these products and events, and more!