Rambo, Total Recall, Pacific Rim and other classic action movies are getting official RPG adventures you can play with D&D 5E
Everyday Heroes’ Season of Adventure will include eight campaigns and world books based on films.
A number of classic action movies are coming to the tabletop in the form of official RPG campaigns that can be used with Dungeons & Dragons 5E’s rules.
The upcoming Season of Adventure will be made up of eight adventures based directly on films from the eighties and nineties through to more modern releases.
The eighties classics in the “cinematic adventures” include the likes of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York - which recently had a board game adaptation announced - cult fantasy Highlander (“There can be only one!”) and, of course, Sly Stallone’s genre-defining Rambo.
The nineties, meanwhile, are represented by Arnie sci-fi flick Total Recall, Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Universal Soldier and cult comic-book adaptation The Crow, which is currently in line for a remake.
Moving into the millennium, Guillermo del Toro’s mechs-versus-monsters movie Pacific Rim and Kong: Skull Island - Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ reboot of the nearly-century-old King Kong series - will be turned into playable scenarios.
The cinematic adventures have been designed for Everyday Heroes, the upcoming RPG that serves as a spiritual successor to Dungeons & Dragons’ third-edition spin-off d20 Modern. Set on modern-day Earth rather than a fantasy world, Everyday Heroes - like d20 Modern before it - will introduce a number of new elements to D&D’s gameplay, including new subclasses, rules for using firearms and cover, and the ability to chase on foot or in vehicles. Original d20 Modern co-designer Jeff Grubb and producer Stan Brown are working on the standalone game alongside Evil Genius’ team, with the older game described as “inspiration, not duplication”.
Each of Everyday Heroes’ cinematic adventures will consist of a roughly 100-page book, and will include a full campaign set in the universe of each movie, publisher Evil Genius Productions said. The books will also include new rules and gameplay mechanics.
Pacific Rim and Kong: Skull Island’s adventures will be followed by an extended world book - comparable to D&D 5E’s sourcebooks - and monster manual that will provide additional detail on the universes for players to use as a complete setting for custom campaigns. Evil Genius added that other “premier franchises” would receive a similar treatment in the future.
Evil Genius owner Dave Scott confirmed to Dicebreaker that all of the Everyday Heroes books would be “fully compatible” with Dungeons & Dragons 5E, allowing players to play the movie-based campaigns using the 5E system - or even crossover parts of the film universes with each other.
“The Everyday Heroes system will be perfectly balanced with the 5E rules system,” Scott said. “So if you want to build a Highlander and throw them back into your favourite D&D setting, you can. Or if you want your cyborg-enhanced universal soldier to lay waste in the maximum security prison of New York, you can do that too.
“If you had a wisecracking character that owned a chainsaw and shotgun, you could plop him into your D&D game no problem. Also, if you wanted Rambo to go monster hunting on Skull Island, that works as well.”
The Season of Adventure books will be offered as part of Everyday Heroes’ Kickstarter, due to launch on May 17th, with the cinematic adventures exclusive to the crowdfunding campaign. Each book will cost $20, with the full season bundled for $130.
Everyday Heroes is due to release during winter 2023. As well as the cinematic adventures, the RPG’s core rulebook will be followed by supplements focused on weapons, the military and vehicles released throughout next year.