In 1985 Kevin Siembieda was still relatively new to the RPG field, but he still had the vision to begin licensing various IP such as Robotech, and to a lesser impact, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The brainchild of Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman had become something of an underground comic sensation by this period, but it would take a couple more years until it exploded into the mass market success we still consider it today, so Siembieda managed to wrangle a license to produce the RPG with his standard Palladium mechanic.
Now I know that mechanic is tired, and old, and outdated, and broken, but even with all that, it’s still infinitely playable, and has never undergone a revision which is incredible in this industry. That said, the little book written by Erick Wujcik for TMNT is a fun ride.
It creates a very playable universe that details a great deal of animal archtypes that can be modified into hybrid-evolved characters to mimic that famed Turtles, or players can even play the Turtles if they so choose. Back in the day, I was very taken with the system, and have played it on a number of occasions before it finally retired to my shelf for good.
Artistically, it is a single source shopping experience as Eastman and Laird do all the artwork for it, most of which I believe was ripped from the comic, although new interiors that link directly to game play also pepper the book as well. If you like E&L’s style, then there isn’t a problem, and no matter how many times I see the Turtles rendered, I’m always partial to this original pen and ink work.
In all, this is a fun and well put together nostalgic time capsule.
Artistic Rating: 3 [out of 5]
