Technorganic Secrets

« Technorganic Secrets »
Publisher	Renegade Game Studios
First published	December 12, 2024
Written by	Chirag Asnani, Carrie Carney, Jim Deely, Andrew E.C. Gaska, Ian Gould, Adrián Mejia, Brandon Perdue, Erin Roberts, Jim Sorenson, Kris Strader, and E.L. Thomas
Page count	174
Price	$45.00 USD

Technorganic Secrets is an expansion sourcebook for the Transformers Roleplaying Game. The book expands the scope of the setting to include characters and campaigns based mostly on the Beast Wars and Beast Machines franchises and include rules for players to create beast mode Transformers of their own, featuring fourteen new beast-based Origins and five new Influences.

It was released digitally on December 12, 2024, with a physical release in March 2025.

Contents

Chapter 1: Wide and Varied World of Beasts

• Various Types of Beast Upgrades
• Beast Factions and Teams
• Maximal Data Files
• Rules Reminders

Chapter 2: Character Options

• Influences
• Form Influences
• Origins
• General Perks
• Equipment

Chapter 3: Autobots

Dinobots Grimlock Genius Grimlock Scarr Slash Sludge Slug

Snarl Swoop Volcanicus Volcanicus Rex Paddles Sneer, Snipe, and Snub

Monsterbots Doublecross Grotusque Repugnus

Others Sky Lynx

Chapter 4: Decepticon Terrorcons

Terrorcons Blot Cutthroat Hun-Gurrr Rippersnapper Sinnertwin Abominus

Chapter 5: Maximals

Maximals Botanica Dinobot Silverbolt Blackarachnia (Transmetal II) Optimus Primal/Optimus Primal (Transmetal) Optimal Optimus

 

Chapter 6: Predacons

Predacons Blackarachnia Dinobot II Inferno Transmetal Inferno Quickstrike Transmetal II Quickstrike Rampage Scorponok Transmetal Scorponok Skold Tarantulas Transmetal Tarantulas Experiment ZT-Omega Terrorsaur Terrorsaur (Transmetal) Waspinator Megatron/Transmetal Megatron/Transmetal II Megatron

Chapter 7: Vehicons

• An Army of Drones Under Megatron's Command

Vehicons Aero Drones Artillery Drones Copter Drones Cycle Drones Diagnostic Drones Mole Drones Tank Drones Jetstorm Megatron (Vehicon) Obsidian Strika Tankor Tankor/Rhinox Thrust Thrustinator

Chapter 8: Running a Beast Wars Campaign

• What Makes a Beast Wars Campaign?
• A Restricted Sandbox: Beast Wars Style
• Allies, Enemies, and the Utterly Alien: NPC Populations
• Uncanny Aliens
• Quantum Surge Events
• Alternate Settings For A Beast Wars Campaign
• Example Campaign: Saviors From Another Epoch
• Example Campaign: Keepers of the Future

Notes

Transformers references

• Like The Enigma of Combination, Technorganic Secrets begins with a character delivering a lecture: in this case, it's Cheetor, giving a lecture to the "CTC Fleet" academy on the planet New Earth. The Confederated Terran Colonial Fleet originated from the Beast Wars: Uprising stories, which also featured New Earth—a planet from the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon—as one of humanity's first extrasolar colonies. Exactly how far the characters are in the future is unclear, but Beast Wars lore generally holds that the Maximals and Predacons hail from a time period some 300 years after the end of the Autobot-Decepticon war.
• Cheetor notes that the Maximals and Predacons owe their unique biology to a combination of Pretender and Micromaster technology, a concept that originated with Dreamwave's More than Meets the Eye guidebooks.
• In his speech, Cheetor speaks of his adventures over the course of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Specific callbacks include:
  • Multiple instances of the Maximals sleeping and dreaming, most prominently in "Call of the Wild".
  • A time when Rhinox ate too many beans and, er, blasted the Predacons into submission, from "The Low Road".
  • Megatron's disastrous scheme to alter history in "The Agenda".
  • Encounters with various Vok relics, including the Standing Stones from "Chain of Command", the Metal Hunter from "Other Visits", a floating island from "The Trigger", and the Transmetal Driver from "Feral Scream".
  • Rattrap struggling with his technorganic body, from "The Weak Component".
• Toward the end of his lecture, Cheetor mentions "other" Beast Wars—some set in the future of his own universe, others taking place in alternate timelines. These include...
  • A distant future era where Leo Prime battles Galvatron on the planet Gaia, as seen in Beast Wars II.
  • A time where Big Convoy and Magmatron search the galaxy for Dark Energon capsules, based on Beast Wars Neo.
  • The world of Beast Wars: Uprising, where Maximals and Predacons fight to overthrow decrepit Autobots and Decepticons.
  • Autobots and Maximals fighting the Heralds of Unicron on present-day Earth, in Rise of the Beasts.
  • A three-way conflict between the Maximals, Predacons, and the Children of the Vok, in IDW's short-lived Beast Wars reboot.
  • Time-travelling Predacons attempting to control Brave Maximus, from Car Robots.
• In passing, Cheetor mentions Nightshade, presumably based on the Earthspark character, Hammerbyte, the shark Transformer from Cyberverse, and Zod, the giant robot from GoBots, as examples of lesser-known beast Transformers.
• One human attendee goes by the name "Professor Three Five"; this name is based on Aron Three Five, a human time-traveller from Animated's obscure "Be the Hero" books.
• Cheetor's description of Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo speaks of Dark Energon instead of Angolmois Energy. As both were then known to be poisonous emanations of Unicron, "Ask Vector Prime" had previously tried to tie the two together in 2015, but subsequent revelations and retcons in Generations Selects Special Comic would ultimately establish that Angolmois was a very different source of energy, with its own unique quirks.
• The second transcript takes the form of a roundtable debate between several Decepticons with beast alternate forms, moderated by Shockwave. Over the course of the discussion, the participants—Sparkstalker and Mindwipe, Leatherhide from Uprising, and a new version of Simacore from Robots in Disguise—discuss various advances in beast mode technology: in addition to Pretenders, Transmetals, Transmetal 2s, technorganics, and Mutants, new classifications include "Hybridizors"—vehicle-formers with animalistic robot modes—and "BioGenetic Beasts"; taking the name from the "bio-genetic morphing process" alluded to in "Optimus Primal vs Megatron!", this new descriptor includes characters like the original Maximals and Predacons, who transform from wholly organic creatures into sleek, cybernetic robots. Finally, the book uses the term "mechanimal" to describe both native Cybertronian wildlife and characters like the Dinobots and Insecticons, who transform from robots into mechanical animals.
• Talking of Transmetal Cybertronians found outside the Beast Wars, Leatherhide brings up Shokaract and Cataclysm, the Four Horsemen of Unicron (retools of Transmetal toys from the Armada toyline), Preditron (a repurposing of Armada Predacon, a retool of Transmetal Megatron), and Labrat (who was depicted in Uprising as a repurposed Metal Rattle Special Edition).
• Reptillion raises a connection between the superpowers demonstrated by Transmetal II Cybertronians and Point One Percenters, and a similarity between the process and the Cyborg Beasts from Beast Wars II.
• Leatherhide cites Darksteel, the griffin Predacon from Transformers: Prime, as another kind of Fuzor, while Reptilion brings up the Blentrons, the Fuzor redecoes who served as Unicron's minions in Beast Wars Neo.
• When their discussion turns to ancient beast Transformers, Mindwipe speaks of Onyx Prime, mythological progenitor of the beasts as per most modern incarnations of Transformers lore, and his mythical Triptych Mask. Additionally, Leatherhide mentions his herald, the Titan Chela, who first appeared in IDW's Windblade comic.
• Finally, Leatherhide mentions a few beast form Transformers that don't fall cleanly into any one category: these include Optimus Primal's "Optimal" body, Razorclaw, Gigatron's various animal forms, Deathsaurus and the Breastforce, and prominent human-formers "Alice" and "Sumdac".
• The third transcript is written by Thunderhowl, whose Cyberverse counterpart was established to be a servant of Onyx Prime. His writings establish Maxima and Preditron as the first Maximal and Predacon, as was the case in Uprising. Additionally, Thunderhowl notes that Vehicons are sometimes created by an infectious virus, as was the case in the Uprising story "Derailment". Finally, the Raptoricons of Chicxulania get a quick mention, and are noted to transform into jurassanoids, Uprising's catch-all name for dinosaur-based alternate forms.
• A non-Uprising homage comes in Thunderhowl's description of the Monsterbots: he explains that they often live underground, seemingly evoking the Cyberverse Monsterbots.
• Talking of Sharkticons, Thunderhowl brings up how in addition to serving Quintessons and Decepticons, they've also served Primacron and the Skuxxoid, both from the Sunbow Transformers cartoon. He also mentions Gnaw and Tyrannicon, from the novel Transformers: Retribution, as ones with abnormal intelligence.
• Thunderhowl recounts an incident in which the crash of the prison ship Alchemor unleashed a horde of rogue Hybridizors, forcing a group of local Autobots to round up the villains, evoking the premise of Robots in Disguise.
• Thunderhowl concludes his lecture with a citation of the Great Convoys, the ruling body of the Maximals in Neo, which is that old Furmanism, "it never ends!"
• Heinrad's profile notes that he claims to have encountered fellow time manipulators Sideways, Gong, and Meantime.
• Leo Prime's profile says players can use his stats as a proxy for Leobreaker. The original Leobreaker toy was retooled into Leo Prime for the 2008 Universe toyline.
• Depth Charge's profile notes that he was originally posted on the planet Pinea Omicron, tying "Colony Omicron" from the Beast Wars cartoon to the planet from "Alignment".
• The Origin-specific perks available to Mutant Beast characters each correspond to one of the superpowers of the original four Mutants, as laid out in IDW's Beast Wars Sourcebook—Icebird has telepathic powers, Razor Claw can create friction-nullifying fields, Poison Bite can teleport, and Soundwave can generate electromagnetic pulses.
• In addition to the standard five Dinobots, Slash, and a trio of original characters who transform into Troodon, Technorganic Secrets also adds Scarr, the Ankylosaurus from Legacy, and Paddles, an Elasmosaurus who debuted in the obscure Transformers Legends anthology.
• Technorganic Secrets features specific "Deviation" profiles of pre-existing characters, alternate versions based on specific "what-if" scenarios or references to other stories. Notable Deviations include...
  • The "Environmental Specialists" profile for the Dinobots note that they used to assist Xenorelations specialists on missions, a pre-war branch of government in IDW's rebooted Transformers universe.
  • "Genius Grimlock" is an extrapolation on the The Transformers episode "Grimlock's New Brain", in which Grimlock temporarily gained superintelligence.
  • "Slug, Leader of the Dinobots" notes that Slug has stepped up as leader when Grimlock was indisposed—this occurred in IDW's first Transformers continuity, in which Slag led the team from "Dinobot Hunt" all the way through to "Ceremony".
  • "Transmetal II Quickstrike" hails from a timeline in which Megatron first tested the Transmetal driver on Quickstrike before creating Dinobot II in "Feral Scream".
  • "Transmetal Inferno" is based on Scavenger, who was originally conceived as a Transmetal form for Inferno.
  • "Transmetal Scorponok" and "Transmetal Terrorsaur" imagine a world in which the two characters didn't die in "Aftermath".
• Weapon-specific references included Rhinox's famous "Chainguns of Doom", Dinobot's rotary blade, and "vine bombs" the Maximals used in "End of the Line".
• Sky Lynx's profile credits his ability to split apart to a "mitotic spark", a term that originated with Magmatron's Beast Machines toy.
• Scorponok's profile notes that he is an accomplished codebreaker, which was a plot point in IDW's rebooted Beast Wars comic. The same goes for "Experiment ZT-Omega", which originated in the same comics as Terrorsaur's reanimated corpse.
• Experiment ZT-Omega's rules state they can also be applied to similar zombie-type threats such as the Ex-Bots (Megatron's lobotomized revenant army from Regeneration One) or the Sparkless.
• Thrustinator's profile is heavily based on his depiction in Fun Publicatons' TransTech storyline—he is specifically noted to be a guardian of the timestream who maintains the timeline by correcting chronological errors.
• One of the sample campaign ideas is explicitly based on the King Grimlock miniseries, although in practice the resemblance is very loose beyond the basic premise of a wizard summoning the player characters to a fantasy world.

Real-world references

• Longrack's data file states he wishes to go "up the ziggurat" of Maximal command, the same phrase used by hopelessly over-ambitious and officious chicken soup dispenser repairman Arnold Rimmer of British science-comedy series Red Dwarf to describe his dreams, Jim Sorenson having previously used the character as a basis for writing Longrack for Beast Wars: Uprising.
• The aforementioned sample campaign includes a sequence named "Welcome to Our Nightmare", presumably named for the Alice Cooper song.

Other trivia

• As with The Enigma of Combination, Jim Sorenson played a major role in the development of the book, and is credited as Renegade's "Transformers Lore Consultant". Perhaps unsurprisingly, the book is heavy with references to Sorenson's Beast Wars: Uprising prose stories, including an in-depth description of the Uprising universe as a possible campaign setting on page 171.
• Finding a way to incorporate the animalistic characters of Robots in Disguise into the Transformers Roleplaying Game ruleset was a personal goal for Jim Sorenson. Notably, the term "Hybridizor" was actually developed as a result of Sorenson consulting with several Robots in Disguise staff writers!
• Interestingly, the Form Influences in this book don't specify that they can only be used with beast mode Origins; while the Influence Perks of "BioGenetic" and "Technorganic" specifically reference Beast Modes, the others only reference Alt Modes in general. By rules as written, then, you could technically play as a Transmetal Seeker whose jet form gains additional transport options, or a Mutant Beast who converts from an animal into a car (if you wanted to play as Alternators Ravage). Heck, if you squint, you could arguably use the Bot Origin with the Mutant Beast Influence to play a character who only has a single beast mode... though you wouldn't actually gain anything from doing so, since you only get the Origin Perk of your primary mode.
• Strangely, the Terrorcon profiles try to assign specific Earth-based alternate modes to the group. Notably, Hun-Gurrr is described as a two-headed Komodo dragon, Sinnertwin as a two-headed rhino-horned lizard, and Blot as a collared lizard, which... don't really look anything like their alternate modes.
• Paddles' profile uses they/them pronouns, although it's unclear if this is a deliberate reinterpretation of the character or an accidental oversight.

Errors

• Generally speaking, Technorganic Secrets uses the term "Beast Wars" as an umbrella term to describe both the events of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. However, the final episode of Beast Wars had Optimus declare that the Beast Wars were over; in Beast Machines, the characters spoke of the Beast Wars as a prior event, which ended the moment they left Earth.
• On page 17, the text uses the name "Sharpedge" to describe a shark-based Maximal; they are presumably thinking of Sharp Edge.
• On page 10, "Cryotek" is mispelled as "Cryotech".
• On page 80, Rippersnapper and Blot possess Autobot insignias.