Renegade Game Studios G.I. Joe Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Full color hardcover book, Create your own G.I. JOE character

The Essence system is new to me - this being my first experience with it. Having read through the book a couple times, it makes me feel like Renegade Studios took the skeleton of 5th Ed. D&D (for class structure, feats, skill concepts), and merged them with ideas from BESM (death not really being a "thing", always having enough ammo for a mission, etc.).Creation is pretty simple; you only have four stats or essences to focus on, and you decide what your previous experiences were before now, some giving you disadvantages (the term they use escapes me at the moment, but it's more of a rp device than anything. If it does give a negative bonus, again, I don't recall at the moment). You then pick a class and a specialization to focus in within that class (this is the 5th Ed experience).The trickiest part of this system is combat - this is where I really say inexperienced GMs should not start off with this system. It's going to take a lot of memorization or just feeling things out and what makes sense when it comes to combat. A combat check might grant "Edges" or "Snags" (Advantage/Disadvantage from 5E D&D) and you also have to check for any "upshifts" or "downshifts" before you roll. For example, if your skill die is a d8, it's possible it can become a d10, d12, or even as high as 3d6 before you roll. If you get enough shifts, you can succeed automatically or critically succeed. The same is true for downshifts, which degrade your skill die. This is where it gets really tricky, and unless you have really good memorization skills, or you and your group are experienced players and can work well together within the confines of a system, this is not a system to start your first ever game with.For those of you old enough to have grown up with the 80's cartoon, this system takes after more of the comic series. Which means if you're looking for inspiration for stories or ideas, go to the comics, and not the cartoon (although, it might be fun to do a oneshot around it).I haven't mentioned vehicle combat yet, but that's because I'm still going over it and looking to understand it better. And if you're looking for stat blocks for the Joes, you're going to be sadly disappointed - that won't be in this book, but the upcoming Cobra Codex, which lets you play as Cobra. This book will give you stats on all the Cobra big baddies (minus Storm Shadow; not sure why). As far as an alternate system for military fantasy or even a more modern game, the Essence System shows real promise. The book was created with love by people that really do love this franchise, and it shows.

El contenido del libro es asombroso. La calidad de las ilustraciones es increíble. La calidad del papel inigualable. Sin embargo el empastado es muy frágil, da la impresión que las hojas se van a salir del libro de un momento a otro.No es recomendable para uso continuo.

Nice and cool to read for joes fan around the globe

High-quality paper, excellently bound with a fabric bookmark. Haven't been able to play yet or to get into reading it, but like their Transformers entries, the book is physically beautiful.

Renegade has 3 Hasbro rpgs out right now.While it seems Power rangers is getting the love, G.I. Joe is the real star.This game has the variety the other 2 lack.This game has a great balance.The system is truly at its' strongest when it is grounded closer to reality.Transformers' biggest flaw is scale. Size and scope are off.Power Rangers feels like a baffled mess. The colors level up differently. Some classes feel lack luster.But not G.i. Joe. Every class brings something to the table with little to no overlap. The scale of guns, combat, and vehicles are balanced.Honestly, this rpg is probably the best thing Joe related after 1987. The art looks good. It's a good alternative for those of us who put away the toys or lost them to the dreaded garage sale.