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Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Become a Power Ranger and protect Angel Grove and the Earth against the evil forces of Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Master Vile, and more in the epic world of Power Rangers! Whether you interrupt Rita’s monster attacks in her attempt of world domination or defeat the forces of the Machine Empire from invading Earth, there is no limit to the heroic stories you will tell.
In the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game, create your ultimate Power Ranger persona by combining personal traits, childhood influences, and your chosen Ranger color to make a hero worthy of the Power!
This book contains everything you need to create your own Power Rangers character and play the game - just add dice, some friends, and your imagination:
Complete rules for players and Game Masters focused on fun storytelling and epic combat
Character creation tools, weapons, equipment, Zords, and more from the Zordon era
Combat and exploration information, detailed locations in Angel Grove, and tools to get your campaign started
An introductory adventure for 1st-level characters that is ready to play with your new character
May the Power protect you!
In the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game, create your ultimate Power Ranger persona by combining personal traits, childhood influences, and your chosen Ranger color to make a hero worthy of the Power!
This book contains everything you need to create your own Power Rangers character and play the game - just add dice, some friends, and your imagination:
Complete rules for players and Game Masters focused on fun storytelling and epic combat
Character creation tools, weapons, equipment, Zords, and more from the Zordon era
Combat and exploration information, detailed locations in Angel Grove, and tools to get your campaign started
An introductory adventure for 1st-level characters that is ready to play with your new character
May the Power protect you!
- GenresRole Playing Games
254 pages, Hardcover
Published January 26, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 7, 2025
I am a lifelong fan of Power Rangers and an avid collector of TTRPGs. I enjoy collecting different systems and seeing how they work. I'm fascinated with TTRGP game design, and with Power Rangers RPG using a new system called Essence20, along with Transformers RPG and GI Joe RPG, I was very intrigued by it and wanted to check it out.
Essence20 is another d20 system (Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Old-School Essentials, etc.) but with some key differences. For characters, the system uses four stat values (Strength, Speed, Smarts, Social) instead of the standard six (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma). Essence20 takes inspiration from D&D 3.5 edition and Pathfinder, where the game is skill-heavy with each skill falling under an ability. What's more is that each level you gain increases a dedicated ability score and provides your character more powers and abilities pertaining to your role (class); some you can choose yourself. And similarly to other TTRPG systems, you can level up your skills and even specialize in specific skills, along with an advantage/disadvantage mechanic (edge/snag), as seen in D&D 5e and other d20 systems. What's more, these abilities have their own defenses, so each Ranger will have their own strengths and weaknesses in that regard, allowing a Ranger team to be more well-rounded in their defenses.
Where the game deviates from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder is that the Essence20 system uses skill dice instead of proficiency bonus and ability score modifier. Every time you increase a specific skill, you move your skill die up the "skill ladder." You start with a d2 and move up to a d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12. This skill mechanic is also used for attacks and abilities, allowing a Ranger team to be quite diverse in abilities without one feeling stronger or weaker than the other. It's a very smart mechanic in that you're just adding dice rolls without adding any floating modifiers from your sheet. When the game applies bonuses or penalties to a skill check, it is reflected by the skill die moving up or down the skill ladder from the character's skill rank. This helps keep the going flowing smoothly in a very dynamic way that, once one gets used to it, becomes quiet intuitive for the player and an elegant mechanic overall.
Another very cool aspect to this system is the ability to customize your weapons, your own Zord, and working with your team in customizing their own Megazord. The templates are pretty straightforward and there are plenty of customization options for players to choose from. Some of the mechanics are rough (having to wait rounds for your Zord to arrive, then waiting longer to form the Megazord is a sore spot for me that could be ironed out further) but I just chalk it to first edition problems.
Equipment options are a bit lackluster compared to other systems. Weapons is more fleshed out, which is nice. There are a small number of weapons from past PR seasons that have different weapon properties that are pretty cool. One feature I really like is that you create or upgrade your weapon, requiring a Skill roll to see if you were successful. My only complaint is that the system does not tell you which Skill roll you will need to roll. I would presume it would be a Science or Technology check, because I was not able to find anything definitive.
I do have some issues with this system, however. The first being that the team roles in a ranger team (Red, Blue, Black, Green, Pink, and Yellow) are character classes, which is pretty cool, however, the roles for a team is tied to a color. If you want to play a ranged combat character, your best option is to play as the Pink ranger. If you want to play an intelligent role, you'll best play as the Blue ranger. This leaves an strong impression that this system is strongly Mighty Morphin Power Rangers coded. But I can think of many other rangers that were very intelligent like Billy that weren't Blue rangers. I get that they want to use ranger colors to be the class, but I think the system would have worked out better if they had archetypes, such as leader, mechanic, supporter, guardian, archer, etc., that players could assign the colors they want with the ranger archetype.
Along with the role issue, Essence20 does suffer from first edition issues. I have noticed several editing errors in the game, such as spelling and grammatical errors (especially later on in the book, particularly in Chapter 12), formatting errors, and some rules aren't written as clearly as they could be. If Renegade Games continues with this system, it would benefit with an errata or and updated version of the game that clarifies rules, tightens the format, and corrects the editing errors.
It's very clear that Power Rangers RPG takes a lot of inspiration from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, maybe too much inspiration. It feels like the other seasons were after thoughts for some equipment that were pulled directly from the shows. What its missing are generic equipment templates that players can customize to feel really their own. But, I really like this attempt of making a new system that right tightens roleplay and combat to be more seamless in its transition than other d20 systems. I think that a second edition of the game will fix a lot of its flaws. But as it is, the Essence20 system has some strong IPs behind it that also allows them to work with other games within the system. So if you want GI Joe vs Transformers vs Power Rangers? There's actually a sourcebook and adventure for that! It's a great start to a system that I can see becoming more elegant and refined as further editions are developed and I am looking forward to seeing more from Renegade Studios.
Essence20 is another d20 system (Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Old-School Essentials, etc.) but with some key differences. For characters, the system uses four stat values (Strength, Speed, Smarts, Social) instead of the standard six (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma). Essence20 takes inspiration from D&D 3.5 edition and Pathfinder, where the game is skill-heavy with each skill falling under an ability. What's more is that each level you gain increases a dedicated ability score and provides your character more powers and abilities pertaining to your role (class); some you can choose yourself. And similarly to other TTRPG systems, you can level up your skills and even specialize in specific skills, along with an advantage/disadvantage mechanic (edge/snag), as seen in D&D 5e and other d20 systems. What's more, these abilities have their own defenses, so each Ranger will have their own strengths and weaknesses in that regard, allowing a Ranger team to be more well-rounded in their defenses.
Where the game deviates from D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder is that the Essence20 system uses skill dice instead of proficiency bonus and ability score modifier. Every time you increase a specific skill, you move your skill die up the "skill ladder." You start with a d2 and move up to a d4 > d6 > d8 > d10 > d12. This skill mechanic is also used for attacks and abilities, allowing a Ranger team to be quite diverse in abilities without one feeling stronger or weaker than the other. It's a very smart mechanic in that you're just adding dice rolls without adding any floating modifiers from your sheet. When the game applies bonuses or penalties to a skill check, it is reflected by the skill die moving up or down the skill ladder from the character's skill rank. This helps keep the going flowing smoothly in a very dynamic way that, once one gets used to it, becomes quiet intuitive for the player and an elegant mechanic overall.
Another very cool aspect to this system is the ability to customize your weapons, your own Zord, and working with your team in customizing their own Megazord. The templates are pretty straightforward and there are plenty of customization options for players to choose from. Some of the mechanics are rough (having to wait rounds for your Zord to arrive, then waiting longer to form the Megazord is a sore spot for me that could be ironed out further) but I just chalk it to first edition problems.
Equipment options are a bit lackluster compared to other systems. Weapons is more fleshed out, which is nice. There are a small number of weapons from past PR seasons that have different weapon properties that are pretty cool. One feature I really like is that you create or upgrade your weapon, requiring a Skill roll to see if you were successful. My only complaint is that the system does not tell you which Skill roll you will need to roll. I would presume it would be a Science or Technology check, because I was not able to find anything definitive.
I do have some issues with this system, however. The first being that the team roles in a ranger team (Red, Blue, Black, Green, Pink, and Yellow) are character classes, which is pretty cool, however, the roles for a team is tied to a color. If you want to play a ranged combat character, your best option is to play as the Pink ranger. If you want to play an intelligent role, you'll best play as the Blue ranger. This leaves an strong impression that this system is strongly Mighty Morphin Power Rangers coded. But I can think of many other rangers that were very intelligent like Billy that weren't Blue rangers. I get that they want to use ranger colors to be the class, but I think the system would have worked out better if they had archetypes, such as leader, mechanic, supporter, guardian, archer, etc., that players could assign the colors they want with the ranger archetype.
Along with the role issue, Essence20 does suffer from first edition issues. I have noticed several editing errors in the game, such as spelling and grammatical errors (especially later on in the book, particularly in Chapter 12), formatting errors, and some rules aren't written as clearly as they could be. If Renegade Games continues with this system, it would benefit with an errata or and updated version of the game that clarifies rules, tightens the format, and corrects the editing errors.
It's very clear that Power Rangers RPG takes a lot of inspiration from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, maybe too much inspiration. It feels like the other seasons were after thoughts for some equipment that were pulled directly from the shows. What its missing are generic equipment templates that players can customize to feel really their own. But, I really like this attempt of making a new system that right tightens roleplay and combat to be more seamless in its transition than other d20 systems. I think that a second edition of the game will fix a lot of its flaws. But as it is, the Essence20 system has some strong IPs behind it that also allows them to work with other games within the system. So if you want GI Joe vs Transformers vs Power Rangers? There's actually a sourcebook and adventure for that! It's a great start to a system that I can see becoming more elegant and refined as further editions are developed and I am looking forward to seeing more from Renegade Studios.
March 18, 2022
When I heard about the Essence20 system and the new tie-in properties coming out of Renegade Game Studios, I was curious to find out what it meant to choose not to opt for 5e as the engine.
In truth, the reason is that Essence20 is essentially a D&D-like engine with a few flourishes and less polish. I'm sad to say that the bells and whistles don't amount to enough to make this product what I might have hoped. More so, what does come in this big book is probably too much for inexperienced gamers and not enough for those with their foot in the door already.
Essentially, the system is d20 versus a target number with the tweak that skills provide an extra die (or three) instead of a flat modifier. So, instead of d20+1 for a basic skill, you roll d20+d2, which is only average no different to +1. If you specialize in something you can roll all your skill dice - so, faced with a challenge you might roll d20+d6 normally, but your specialisation applies, so you roll d20, d2, d2 and d6 and take the best result.
Roll 1 and fail means you fumble. Rolled a success and the highest value on your Skill die and you have the chance to crit your roll.
Otherwise, this is classes (ranger colours), feats (perks), levels (advancement tables) and more of the same that 5e offers with a better sense of cohesion. There are a lot of sub-rules under the covers, for things like Zords, vehicles, using the Morphin Grid and so forth, but it's all a bit patchy.
And little errors abound, from spelling and grammar to a section where one paragraph says that a round is equal to 5 seconds and the next paragraph says 6 seconds - a period that appears many times later, so is clearly the right value. Some elements get a paragraph of coverage with a quick example, and then they're gone - like diseases, where a heading that says Sample Diseases (i.e., plural) following a discussion about conditions that might be created by the bad guys, is followed by the definition of one disease - tetanus, which is a bacterial infection but lets not split hairs.
There's minimal guidance about normal character lies - akin to the sort of thing you get in Tales from the Loop, where the assumption might also be that you'll play students. Power Rangers says you don't have to be students, but then a lot of content certainly feels aimed that way. There's also a section on Angel Grove, the city of the Power Rangers, with descriptions of districts and buildings, but no map - "No map?", I thought, but you give me a picture of an almost empty beach with a trash can in the foreground in the adventure section...
Guidance on creating adventures is minimal, so there's a strong sense that Renegade wants you to pick up expansions and materials from them. And yet, I think many people who pick up this game will struggle to wade through all the rules and never even get it to the table. A slab of a hardback book for a game better suited to light narrative story-driven action?
Sorry. But no. And now I worry what Transformers and G I Joe will have to offer. I can't possibly recommend.
In truth, the reason is that Essence20 is essentially a D&D-like engine with a few flourishes and less polish. I'm sad to say that the bells and whistles don't amount to enough to make this product what I might have hoped. More so, what does come in this big book is probably too much for inexperienced gamers and not enough for those with their foot in the door already.
Essentially, the system is d20 versus a target number with the tweak that skills provide an extra die (or three) instead of a flat modifier. So, instead of d20+1 for a basic skill, you roll d20+d2, which is only average no different to +1. If you specialize in something you can roll all your skill dice - so, faced with a challenge you might roll d20+d6 normally, but your specialisation applies, so you roll d20, d2, d2 and d6 and take the best result.
Roll 1 and fail means you fumble. Rolled a success and the highest value on your Skill die and you have the chance to crit your roll.
Otherwise, this is classes (ranger colours), feats (perks), levels (advancement tables) and more of the same that 5e offers with a better sense of cohesion. There are a lot of sub-rules under the covers, for things like Zords, vehicles, using the Morphin Grid and so forth, but it's all a bit patchy.
And little errors abound, from spelling and grammar to a section where one paragraph says that a round is equal to 5 seconds and the next paragraph says 6 seconds - a period that appears many times later, so is clearly the right value. Some elements get a paragraph of coverage with a quick example, and then they're gone - like diseases, where a heading that says Sample Diseases (i.e., plural) following a discussion about conditions that might be created by the bad guys, is followed by the definition of one disease - tetanus, which is a bacterial infection but lets not split hairs.
There's minimal guidance about normal character lies - akin to the sort of thing you get in Tales from the Loop, where the assumption might also be that you'll play students. Power Rangers says you don't have to be students, but then a lot of content certainly feels aimed that way. There's also a section on Angel Grove, the city of the Power Rangers, with descriptions of districts and buildings, but no map - "No map?", I thought, but you give me a picture of an almost empty beach with a trash can in the foreground in the adventure section...
Guidance on creating adventures is minimal, so there's a strong sense that Renegade wants you to pick up expansions and materials from them. And yet, I think many people who pick up this game will struggle to wade through all the rules and never even get it to the table. A slab of a hardback book for a game better suited to light narrative story-driven action?
Sorry. But no. And now I worry what Transformers and G I Joe will have to offer. I can't possibly recommend.
January 20, 2023
This sounds like Dnd with extra steps but honestly, I dig it. I feel like this is very similar to Kids on Bikes (or Kids on Brooms) system so I feel myself getting a bit excited instead of getting bored. I don't know if I can ever play it but I'm gonna try at least once.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews