LEGACY REVIEW #15 – TMNT MUTAGEN FOILS

GENERAL

After the previous two blog articles that reviewed the review PDFs I was graciously provided, it was somewhat surprising to hear my dog barking at the door; typically for deliveries to the front door or the errant golden retriever being walked across the street (apparently it’s a thing). I left my home office to find a nicely sized package waiting for me a few days prior to when my email notifications told me to expect it. Groovy!

So let’s get on with the unboxing to review the actual, physical product!

DISCUSSION

Unboxing. After having received numerous Christmas Surprise Packages from Palladium Books, I had a certain expectation for the packing. Because this was a Kickstarter campaign that also included a few extras as part of the perks for achieving certain levels of funding, the box contained more than just the two books. Included were the deck of cards and the art print sets, each individually shrink wrapped and then ensconced in a massive amount of plastic Cheetos. Let me tell you, this was all well an good until my dog almost snatched a couple of errant pieces that fell to the floor. The Kickstarter packaging almost accidentally cost me a $300 vet bill, LOL. Entirely a me problem, but a funny way to kick off the unboxing.

Contents. I opted for the Mutagen Mystic level, which developed the books with the green foil covers that Palladium Books does for some of their product lines. These were one of several alternate covers for the books, and they are typically harder to get after the fact. These books have a really heavy look and feel in the hand, moreso than most other Palladium Books products and foil covers, and for good reasons. The pages are glossy, compared to the matt effect in the normal PB releases, but this is also a result of the books now getting coloured interiors.

• TMNT & Other Strangeness. As reviewed back in Legacy Review #12 - TMNT & Other Strangeness, this first book collects a few of the individual products released back in the late 1980s and 1990s. The introduction of colour interiors and the reformatting of the Chapter and Section headers really lend to the presentation of the material.

• TMNT Transdimensional Adventures. As reviewed in Legacy Review #13 - Transdimensional Adventures, this second of two books finalizes the collection of the TMNT material. Once again coloured interior does this product massive justice.

• Art Print Set. A set of eight art prints in 8.5 x 11 inch format on some cardstock-level paper, which makes framing or displaying these pieces much easier and effective. The images in the set are gorgeous and provide a wide array of the original art and some of the newer dedication art submitted to support the Kickstarter.

  

  

• Deck of Cards. The inclusion of card decks into some of these projects is a relatively new thing for Palladium. They did one with the Titan Robotics Kickstarter, and it was no real surprise to see one for this release. The cards leverage the copious amount of interior art to provide some fun images for the ‘face cards.’ I don’t plan on ever throwing down a poker game with either set, but they are fun to have.

  

Image Vividness. Now, to reinforce a point that is likely not being made strongly enough. The colourization of the images within the books is, quite frankly, truly remarkable. There is a certain charm and intensity derived from black-and-white interior art, and Palladium Books has benefited from some truly amazing talent in that field. But these re-imagined illustrations go above and beyond. A member of on of the Facebook communities posted the following pictures comparing original TMNT products to the upscaled, fully coloured images, as well as the ones in the Black, White & Red Editions. Utterly marvelous. A big thank you to Jason Simonds

Sample Characters. It would seem almost ludicrous to get these books and not, at the very least, sample out a couple of really quick rough-sketch characters to deep dive into the character creation process. The first from TMNT & OS was a mutant Dog that really leaned into the Psionics options of the Character Generation (Psi-Hound, for those that get the reference?), while the second from Transdimensional Adventures turned out to be a dextrous Raptaroid. They were fun little exercises and really took little time to generate. After rolling Attributes, a few d100 rolls gets you your background, discover what mutant animal you are, and then select a few Mutations to round out. Throw in a limited number of skills and round out the rough edges. Voila!

CONCLUSION

So the Kickstarter campaign has come to its fruition with the delivery of the items ordered. I know there are a few of the higher tier folks that are still awaiting their orders. Basically, more complex and higher value orders are getting filled later due to logistical concerns and an abundance of caution to get the orders right. Sean Roberson has addressed this issue on social media to a degree not worth repeating here, other than to say I’d say I empathize with them, but frankly would rather they got their order correctly fulfilled and late as a complaint versus incomplete orders coming in dribs and drabs.

The books themselves are top notch in terms of quality. They stand up to anything on the market, and that’s saying something for a product that pretty much replicates a series of releases from the late 80s/early 90s. The images are crisp, vibrant colour and the adventure design from back in the day is still very much useful. Is it all comparable to adventure modules found on today’s market? Perhaps not, but I’d suggest the presentation of these allows much greater flexibility to the GM to develop to their Players than many current modules.

This, the second Kickstarter backed for Palladium RPG products, was a resounding success for the company, the IP, and Players in general. It’s revitalized a lot of nostalgia and I have no doubt introduced a lot of new players to the RPG. That TMNT is still a relevant IP to the genre and gaming markets (RPGs, toys, comics, movies, television) speaks volumes to the impact this Kickstarter may have for Palladium Books in terms of opening further markets and creating healthy player bases for newer releases.

Return to All Posts

Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!