TMNT & Other Strangeness Redux Review

I backed this on nostalgia alone, and I knew it. When I was about 14, my buddy Joey ran Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness for me, Jeremy, and Andy. Jeremy and I built a ridiculous diesel truck packed with weapons, upgraded out of the Road Hogs sourcebook, if memory serves. Joey turned the Weasels from Who Framed Roger Rabbit into our villains. When the Redux Kickstarter showed up, I was in before I'd read a word of it.

So here's the short version. Buy it for the art and the memories. It's a gorgeous book, and the setting is TMNT. Just know that the rules are still the Palladium rules I grew up with, and they haven't aged well.

What I reviewed

The Redux Edition is a 256-page hardcover that collects the original game with the Turtles Go Hollywood and Truckin' Turtles books. Palladium lists it at $59.99, in full color or a Black, White & Red version with the original-style art. I backed the Kickstarter's special edition, wrapped in faux leather. I read it cover to cover. I haven't run this edition yet, but I played this system plenty as a kid, and as far as I can tell, nothing about it has changed.

Rules

I'm not a fan of the Palladium system. As kids, it was cool. We didn't know a bad system from a good one, or we didn't care. Now I'm very aware of how crunchy it is: hit points and S.D.C. tracked side by side, eight attributes, percentile skills, and more on top of that.

To be fair, Palladium got one big thing right: its games all work together. Road Hogs is an After the Bomb book, and we bolted it straight onto our TMNT game without a second thought. That's still true today, and it's a real reason to own this if you have other Palladium books on the shelf.

That's also why it can't change. Every Palladium game runs on the same rules, so they couldn't update one without breaking the rest, and that consistency is their brand. Some people love it, and I respect Palladium for everything they've given this hobby. But I think a fresh start with an updated system would make their games far friendlier to new players, because their worlds are amazing. Rifts already proved it: the Savage Worlds version kept the world and swapped in lighter rules, and it worked great.

I started at a 10 and talked myself down. It's brutal, and it is definitely not new-player friendly.

Rules: 6.

Layout

The art is absolutely gorgeous. It's all the classic Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird art, and the special edition is something I'm happy to have on the shelf. The pages are nice, and the book flows the way you expect a core book to. I was never lost.

There are adventures in the back, and they could have used an update. They do have text to read to the players, but it's only marked with "Read to players" and then runs on looking like every other block of text. Put it in a box so the GM can find it at the table.

Layout: 16.

Setting

It's TMNT. That's hard to beat as a setting. You can play the Turtles, their friends, or make your own mutant, and you can play in the past, present, or future.

What the book doesn't give the GM is much setting material beyond the adventures it includes. I'll admit I'm being a bit biased here.

Setting: 18.

Who it's for

TMNT fans, and anyone who played Palladium games growing up and wants that feeling back. If you're new to tabletop RPGs, or you want rules that stay out of your way, this isn't your starting point. If the rules are a dealbreaker, the setting is worth carrying over to a lighter system.

The verdict

A 13 out of 20. The setting and the art carry it, and the rules drag it down. Palladium doesn't sell this through Amazon or DriveThruRPG, so there's no affiliate link here. If you want it, buy it straight from them.