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In 1984 a slightly different cartoon appeared on TV, the series known as Robotech. A combination of three unrelated japanese series, Robotech was many's introduction to anime and vastly different from the american made cartoons or the same era. But in one area Robotech was the same, with licensed products including a Robotech RPG game being released.

The year is 1999 and the world is in the grip of the Gloval Civl War, until the conflict abruptly ceases when a mile long alien warship crash lands in south pacific. Under the threat of attack by 50ft tall war like aliens, the United Earth Government is formed, quickly funerling funds to reverse engineer the advanced alien Robotech and it's power source Protoculture. Ten years later on the day of the rebuilt SDF-1's launch, those 50ft aliens, the Zentraedi, have come to reclaim the ship for their creators, thus starting the First Robotech War.

Robotech the series was split up into 3 sections or generations of characters, and the Robotech RPG is also split into three books with the first (and most popular) era Macross also features the rules. Robotech uses Palladium's standard system, a bit clunky but still playable, and it also was the first to feature the much cursed/loved Mega Damage Capacity. Character creation is based on randomly decided D6 rolls for stats and chosing a Occupational Character Class (O.C.C.) which defines skills and equipment. This moves away from totally crafting your character and should be faster, but every time you gain a level you basicly have to rebuild your character from near scratch. The choice of O.C.C.s in Robotech is clearly geared towards you having mecha piloting skills, if not being a serving or ex-military character. If you want to play a non-military character, tough luck.

Task resolution is simple, a percentage roll against that skill. Combat is much the same with attacker rolling a 20-sided to strike, defender rolling D20 to defend. Place in combat is decided not by better combat skills or a higher speed stat, but random iniative roll. Also losing SDC and HP means nothing at all until their depleted, no pain or ill-effect. Combat can take ages to resolve at times, compounded by the addtion Mega-Damage.

Mega-Damage (MDC) a new super damage capacity related to SDC (1 MDC equals 100 SDC) was introduced to represent the big armor of mecha, however only MDC weapons can damage MDC armor, and only MDC armor can defend against MDC weapons. This doesn't work both ways though. You can fire a bazooka that only does SDC, even if it does 400 SDC which is equal to 4 MDC, all day at Mega-Damage armor and it will not injure it beyond blacking the paint. Anything with MDC will insantly vapourise almost anything SDC. This tends to make PCs steer well clear of anything non-MDC, though not to the same degree as in MDC-mad Rifts.

If the actual system is only passable, good background and info on Robotech will make up for it right? Pity the Robotech RPG bearly delivers on this. While stats on the mecha are provided, they are often changed for better game balance, even to the point where they do not resemble what we see in the series (autocannons and missile launchers becoming laser weaponry). Translation errors also persist, with 100 long meter spaceship becoming a tiny space fighter. Later books feature deck plans for ships, yet one of the most important ships in the entire series, the SDF-1 has nothing more than a couple of pages spent on it's weaponry.

Apart from stats for the mecha, Robotech background is sparse, the game clearly being designed for those who've seen the series and putting anybody else at a disadvantage. When Robotech was on tv, the novels were easy to find and it was available on video this wasn't too much of a problem, but now that Robotech isn't that well known except amoung anime fans it can be abit of a chore to learn about the background.

While not the smoothest and fast paced mecha RPG around, Robotech does do the job well enough. However those looking to play what they saw in the series will have to do some repair work, only a little less than they'd require if they were recreating the mecha with other systems.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Robotech The Role Playing Game
Author: Kevin Siembieda Category: game Company/Publisher: Palladium Books Line: Robotech RPG Cost: $11.95 Page count: 110 Pages ISBN: ISBN 0-916211-21-5 SKU: 550 Capsule Review by Adam Kath on 06/28/00. Genre tags: Science fiction Space Anime	In 1984 a slightly different cartoon appeared on TV, the series known as Robotech. A combination of three unrelated japanese series, Robotech was many's introduction to anime and vastly different from the american made cartoons or the same era. But in one area Robotech was the same, with licensed products including a Robotech RPG game being released. The year is 1999 and the world is in the grip of the Gloval Civl War, until the conflict abruptly ceases when a mile long alien warship crash lands in south pacific. Under the threat of attack by 50ft tall war like aliens, the United Earth Government is formed, quickly funerling funds to reverse engineer the advanced alien Robotech and it's power source Protoculture. Ten years later on the day of the rebuilt SDF-1's launch, those 50ft aliens, the Zentraedi, have come to reclaim the ship for their creators, thus starting the First Robotech War. Robotech the series was split up into 3 sections or generations of characters, and the Robotech RPG is also split into three books with the first (and most popular) era Macross also features the rules. Robotech uses Palladium's standard system, a bit clunky but still playable, and it also was the first to feature the much cursed/loved Mega Damage Capacity. Character creation is based on randomly decided D6 rolls for stats and chosing a Occupational Character Class (O.C.C.) which defines skills and equipment. This moves away from totally crafting your character and should be faster, but every time you gain a level you basicly have to rebuild your character from near scratch. The choice of O.C.C.s in Robotech is clearly geared towards you having mecha piloting skills, if not being a serving or ex-military character. If you want to play a non-military character, tough luck. Task resolution is simple, a percentage roll against that skill. Combat is much the same with attacker rolling a 20-sided to strike, defender rolling D20 to defend. Place in combat is decided not by better combat skills or a higher speed stat, but random iniative roll. Also losing SDC and HP means nothing at all until their depleted, no pain or ill-effect. Combat can take ages to resolve at times, compounded by the addtion Mega-Damage. Mega-Damage (MDC) a new super damage capacity related to SDC (1 MDC equals 100 SDC) was introduced to represent the big armor of mecha, however only MDC weapons can damage MDC armor, and only MDC armor can defend against MDC weapons. This doesn't work both ways though. You can fire a bazooka that only does SDC, even if it does 400 SDC which is equal to 4 MDC, all day at Mega-Damage armor and it will not injure it beyond blacking the paint. Anything with MDC will insantly vapourise almost anything SDC. This tends to make PCs steer well clear of anything non-MDC, though not to the same degree as in MDC-mad Rifts. If the actual system is only passable, good background and info on Robotech will make up for it right? Pity the Robotech RPG bearly delivers on this. While stats on the mecha are provided, they are often changed for better game balance, even to the point where they do not resemble what we see in the series (autocannons and missile launchers becoming laser weaponry). Translation errors also persist, with 100 long meter spaceship becoming a tiny space fighter. Later books feature deck plans for ships, yet one of the most important ships in the entire series, the SDF-1 has nothing more than a couple of pages spent on it's weaponry. Apart from stats for the mecha, Robotech background is sparse, the game clearly being designed for those who've seen the series and putting anybody else at a disadvantage. When Robotech was on tv, the novels were easy to find and it was available on video this wasn't too much of a problem, but now that Robotech isn't that well known except amoung anime fans it can be abit of a chore to learn about the background. While not the smoothest and fast paced mecha RPG around, Robotech does do the job well enough. However those looking to play what they saw in the series will have to do some repair work, only a little less than they'd require if they were recreating the mecha with other systems. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)

Robotech The Role Playing Game