If you own the Power Rangers, Transformers or G.I. Joe roleplaying game, the rules engine underneath them is about to change. At its June reveal stream, Renegade Game Studios confirmed that all three of its Hasbro-licensed RPGs are getting second editions built on Dungeons & Dragons 5.5e, the 2024 revision of the world's biggest roleplaying game, retiring the bespoke Essence20 system that has powered them.
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See how it worksEssence20 was Renegade's own engine, designed to tie its Hasbro lines together so neatly that one sourcebook let you throw Rangers, Joes and Transformers into a single crossover game. The studio has now decided the maths no longer works, pointing to soft sales as the reason for the switch, as covered by EN World. The new editions adopt the 5.5e ruleset instead, and Renegade has promised free Essence20-to-5.5e conversion guides on its webstore, so the books already on your shelf will not be stranded.
The plan is to crowdfund the new editions on BackerKit, with Transformers and G.I. Joe leading the charge and Power Rangers following on a later campaign. Moving to 5.5e is a pragmatic call. It hands these games the most widely understood rules set in the hobby, lowering the barrier for the many players who already know 5E and fancy bringing giant robots or Zords to the table without learning a new system first. The flip side is that a custom engine some groups grew to love is being shelved. For current players, the conversion guides are the part that matters most, because your campaign does not have to stop while the reboot plays out.
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Set up your group for freeSources: Renegade Game Studios | EN World | TechRaptor
