Hi everyone,
Toa Lewa here. I just finished up GMing a horror survival RPG and I started wondering what type of story I should do next. The thought occurred to me, "I should do a Bionicle story." With this thought in mind, I decided to see if anyone has created a Bionicle RPG system that I could use. To make a long story short, there is very little out there on the internet. I found a few forums where people started working on one, but most of these forums are a couple of years old. At first I was a little disappointed; however, I felt adventure stirring inside my green robotic frame. As the legendary Toa of Air, I feel it is my responsibility to make a Bionicle RPG happen.
Although I really want a lot of feedback from Bionicle fans, I also want feedback from RPG players as well. For any RPG players who are not familiar with the Bionicle universe, I have included a quick list of definitions at the end of the post (since I use quite a bit of Bionicle lingo in this post).
First things first, I am not going to create an RPG framework. Instead, I am going to be using an existing RPG system and attempt to create character sheets for all of the Matoran, Toa, Rahi, villians, etc in the Bionicle universe to work within the chosen RPG system. I also want to take the mask and weapon powers in the Bionicle world and translate them into working RPG effects.
The system I'm thinking of using (because I'm most familiar with it) is a d20 system called The Basic System. In a review from RPG.net of The Basic System, a reviewer pretty much calls it a more streamlined version of D&D3. If you are unfamiliar with the system, here is a link to the rulebook, http://dillygreenbeangames.com/TBSDownloads.html. If you think that there is a better system to fit the Bionicle universe, please share it. I am open to any suggestions.
So what is my goal? Good question! Since I want to get something designed pretty quickly for my RPG group, I will only be focusing on the first year of Bionicle for right now. As such, I want to get character sheets created for some of the most common Rahi on Mata Nui, such as the Kane Ra bull and the Muaka panther, to provide my players with challenges. I also want to create character sheets for the most common Matoran, such as Takua, Jaller, Hali, etc. All of these will be NPCs, as my group of players will play as the Toa. The story will begin with the Toa arriving on the island in their canisters and will follow the storyline of their quest for the masks. The story is supposed to culminate in the Toa's first battle against their ultimate enemy, Makuta.
So where am I at? Well, I'm just starting to work on this, but I do have some compiled notes. I'd like to share some of my ideas for the game, but this post is already long enough and it is pretty late (in my time zone anyway). Mainly, I'd like to see who is interested in a Bionicle RPG idea. What does everyone think? I will probably post some more information tomorrow.
Definitions:
Rahi: Creatures/Animals. They are often controlled by the evil villain Makuta (at least in the first year).
Mata Nui: An island. This is where all of the action takes place.
Matoran: Villagers. These are the people that the Toa are sent to protect.
Toa: The heroes of the Bionicle world. They have elemental powers and also have mask powers.
No I am not, but I am now looking into it.
It's a free system that has already been used for fantasy, modern age as well as sci fi Settings.
Due to its flexibility you might want to use it for your system as well.
The benefit of a D6 system is, new players will play with D6 (something they already know) in a world they have yet to learn.
I guess I must have skipped the d6 system and went straight to d20. What would you say are the main advantages of a D6 system over a d20 system?
I have also seen some suggestions that Bionicle would work well in a FATE system. Does anyone have experience with FATE?