Robotech (role-playing game)
Front cover of Book 1: Macross, the Robotech RPG core rulebook, illustrated by Kevin Long
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| Designer(s) | Kevin Siembieda |
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| Publisher(s) | Palladium Books |
| Years active | November 1986 – July 1998 March 2008 – present |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Language(s) | English |
| System(s) | Megaversal |
| Website | palladiumbooks |
The Robotech Role-Playing Game, based on the Robotech and Robotech II: The Sentinels series, was originally published by Palladium Books from 1986 to 1995 (and reprinted until 1998). A new series based on Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles was released starting in 2008.
Books one through five covered the three segments of Robotech as aired. The initial five volumes were written by Kevin Siembieda.
Books seven, eight, and all but one of the adventure books took place during or shortly after the Macross segment. The two "Robotech II" books also took place after Macross.
Book six and Lancer's Rockers took place after the series ended.
Other Palladium regulars and freelance authors contributed to the later sourcebooks and adventure books. Illustrations consisted of line art taken from original Japanese source material in addition to new black-and-white line art done by Palladium artists such as Kevin Long.
Palladium also published Macross II: The Role-Playing Game, a separate RPG based on the Macross II anime, but this was entirely unrelated to the Robotech continuity.
The original Robotech RPG by and large followed the TV series storyline, attempting in its own way to fill in gaps just as the novelizations by Jack McKinney did. Several of the sourcebooks covered different parts of the world during or shortly after the Macross era, where there was the most room for expansion. However, the RPG diverged from the McKinney stories after the events covered in the Robotech series ended. Where McKinney followed Scott Bernard and the others in their search for Admiral Rick Hunter, leaving behind a peaceful planet earth, Palladium posited the Invid returning to earth a few months after they were driven away.
The books Return of the Masters and Lancer's Rockers were set during this second Invid invasion, and introduced concepts and events not suggested by the original material. Return of the Masters, set in Asia, features a system of gladiatorial mecha martial arts combat called Mecha Su-Dai. Lancer's Rockers concerns a network of travelling performers following in the footsteps of New Generation rock star Lancer/Yellow Dancer, carrying protoculture-powered musical instruments that double as powerful weapons (reminiscent of, but unrelated to, similar developments in the Macross sequel Macross 7).
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