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The Robotech RPG
Robotech II: The RPG: The Sentinels
This is a role-playing game instruction book including information on playing the game, characters, occupations, vehicles, etc.
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1988
36 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Siembieda
205 books52 followersKevin Siembieda (born April 2, 1956) is an American artist, writer, designer, and publisher of role-playing games, as well as being the founder and president of Palladium Books.
Palladium Books, founded in southeast Michigan, claims to be the first to implement a role-playing system intended to work for all genres and to introduce the perfect-bound trade paperback format to the RPG industry.
Some of the role-playing games Siembieda helped produce include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985), Robotech RPG (1986), After The Bomb (1986), and Rifts (1990).
Siembieda is also an artist, best known for occasionally illustrating Palladium Books' products. In 1978, he started the now-defunct Megaton Publications in Detroit, publishing a digest style title called A+ Plus and several other titles. He also contributed art and cartography to several early Judges Guild products (for both their Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons lines).
Palladium Books, founded in southeast Michigan, claims to be the first to implement a role-playing system intended to work for all genres and to introduce the perfect-bound trade paperback format to the RPG industry.
Some of the role-playing games Siembieda helped produce include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985), Robotech RPG (1986), After The Bomb (1986), and Rifts (1990).
Siembieda is also an artist, best known for occasionally illustrating Palladium Books' products. In 1978, he started the now-defunct Megaton Publications in Detroit, publishing a digest style title called A+ Plus and several other titles. He also contributed art and cartography to several early Judges Guild products (for both their Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons lines).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 26, 2023
If you are a Robotech fan or just like battling giant robots then these source books are a must. Nice reference book. Recommended
September 5, 2020
Robotech has always been one of my favorite stories, and the extension of "The Sentinels" really opens up the universe. I still remember finally obtaining "The Sentinels" anime, which in spite of it being released and distributed by Palladium Books, I could never find legitimately as a teenager. Oh no, my copy was seemingly a bootleg VHS that I purchased at a Star Trek Convention back in the late 1990s. And boy did I watch the hell out of that thing, filled with lamentations that it was only a pilot and the series was never made.
This book does have everything one needs to run a Sentinels-era Robotech campaign; rules, classes, aliens, enemies, mecha, weapons, spacecraft, rudimentary psionics and magic (yes, in Robotech), a couple of adventures and ideas for more. Admittedly, there was some very rudimentary psionics in Southern Cross and Invid Invasion as the Tirolians and the Invid have some minor telepathic abilities, but nothing like what we see with Garudans.
I also like the suggestion of taking the game away from the story set in the novels with it's direct path from main planet to main planet and having it turn into an almost exploratory/island-hopping military campaign, allowing the Game Master to get truly creative with their ideas on what could be contained within the vastness of the Robotech Masters Empire / Invid Occupied Space. This could easily become the Star Trek of the Robotech universe.
There are a couple of Random Encounter tables tucked away in the three provided adventure scenarios (and you know how I love tables). The first Adventure is very reminiscent of an Original Series Star Trek episode, and the third one is a crazed free-for-all with the Invid, the Robotech Masters, and the Zentraedi all together as potential foes, whilst simultaneously opposing each other. Aside from this little misadventure, this supplement is a completely stand alone game. One does not require any of the other RPG books to play it. However, if you'd like to run this scenario, you'll also need Southern Cross and the main Robotech RPG book.
Having made so many Star Trek comparisons, if there is one thing lacking from this book it is the Invid Fleet. I don't feel that the Clam Shell-esque Troop Carriers or the Scorpion Command Vessel really hold a candle to the listed REF Ships. However, as most people who play this game will most likely be handling their own Mecha, ship vs. ship naval combat may never be a priority for them.
This book does have everything one needs to run a Sentinels-era Robotech campaign; rules, classes, aliens, enemies, mecha, weapons, spacecraft, rudimentary psionics and magic (yes, in Robotech), a couple of adventures and ideas for more. Admittedly, there was some very rudimentary psionics in Southern Cross and Invid Invasion as the Tirolians and the Invid have some minor telepathic abilities, but nothing like what we see with Garudans.
I also like the suggestion of taking the game away from the story set in the novels with it's direct path from main planet to main planet and having it turn into an almost exploratory/island-hopping military campaign, allowing the Game Master to get truly creative with their ideas on what could be contained within the vastness of the Robotech Masters Empire / Invid Occupied Space. This could easily become the Star Trek of the Robotech universe.
There are a couple of Random Encounter tables tucked away in the three provided adventure scenarios (and you know how I love tables). The first Adventure is very reminiscent of an Original Series Star Trek episode, and the third one is a crazed free-for-all with the Invid, the Robotech Masters, and the Zentraedi all together as potential foes, whilst simultaneously opposing each other. Aside from this little misadventure, this supplement is a completely stand alone game. One does not require any of the other RPG books to play it. However, if you'd like to run this scenario, you'll also need Southern Cross and the main Robotech RPG book.
Having made so many Star Trek comparisons, if there is one thing lacking from this book it is the Invid Fleet. I don't feel that the Clam Shell-esque Troop Carriers or the Scorpion Command Vessel really hold a candle to the listed REF Ships. However, as most people who play this game will most likely be handling their own Mecha, ship vs. ship naval combat may never be a priority for them.
July 22, 2024
One of the few sources for the unfinished segment of the Robotech story.
April 3, 2010
More Robotech zaniness, definitely good stuff. I especially love the Inorganics.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews