[Free RPG Day 2025] Shock and Mayhem

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

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Shock and Mayhem is a scenario for not one roleplaying game, but two! Published by Renegade Games Studios, it is designed to be used with the Transformers Roleplaying Game and the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game, whereas the publisher’s contribution for Free RPG Day 2024, Unnatural Disaster, was also written use with the Power Rangers Roleplaying Game and the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game as well. In fact, Shock and Mayhem is intended to run and played with a mix of Transformers and G.I. Joe operatives, though the Game Master could adapt it so that it could be run with just Transformers or G.I. Joe operatives rather than both. Whichever group the Game Master decides to run it for, Shock and Mayhem is written for use with four to six Third Level Player Characters.

The adventure begins with the Player Characters sent to a liaison point where they will meet Wheeljack of the Autobots and Breaker of G.I. Joe, who together will give them a briefing. It is an emergency situation. If the Transformer Player Characters are not aware of G.I. Joe and vice versa, Wheeljack and Breaker will explain who the other is, but more importantly, tell them that the Decepticons and Conbra are working together. Top Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, is working with COBRA commander, General Mayhem to develop a dangerous new form of concentrated energy processing. This had been identified as Energon-V and it will provide the Decepticons with a new source of concentrated power and enhance the weapons of the Iron Grenadiers of COBRA. Each member of this temporary alliance has assigned a lieutenant to the project, Deluge of the Decepticons, and Baron Unbreakable, ambitious Iron Grenadiers officer and protégé of Mistress Armada. There is a secret testing facility nearby in the badlands of Arizona, and the Player Characters’ objective is to obtain a sample, destroy the rest, and prevent either of the Decepticons or COBRA from developing the new energy former any further.

Shock and Mayhem is a straightforward adventure. The Player Characters travel deeper into the Arizona Badlands to the location of the joint Deception/COBRA-facility, taking advantage of a thunderstorm to either sneak up on it or assault it. Suitably, it opens the action with a bang and continues with a chase as the Player Characters next try to prevent the dangerous alliance from obtaining the chemicals necessary to keep Energon-V stable and stop it from just exploding, and then go after what has been stockpiled so far. There are two chemicals, each in a different location, a desert storage bunker and a cryogenics warehouse, and these can be tackled in any order. However, destroying the chemicals at one, will alert the guards at the other, so that they will be prepared when the Player Characters do arrive. The capture of at least one of the lieutenants—and as the scenario makes clear—the ethical interrogation of either, gives the Player Characters information as the whereabouts of Shockwave and General Mayhem. Facing either one of them will be a tough challenge, but together they are too tough to face in a stand-up fight, so the adventure suggests that the Player Characters use other means, such as stealth and playing one villain off against the other. The scenario ends with the suggested narration for various outcomes, including victory and defeat.

The scenario is supported with an appendix of threats that the Player Characters will face. This includes a COBRA H.I.S.S. II vehicle, Iron Grenadier Foot Soldier, and General Mayhem for COBRA, and the Decepticon soldier and spy, Deluge, and Shockwave. There are no stats for Baron Unbreakable, but notes are given on how to adjust the Iron Grenadier Foot Soldier to reflect his skill and experience.

Physically, Shock and Mayhem is a decently, cleanly laid out booklet with artwork from the two different roleplaying games it draws from, the Transformers Roleplaying Game and the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game. There are no maps, but then the locations in the scenario are intentionally generic in nature, so that it can easily be run without them.

Shock and Mayhem is a straightforward, uncomplicated scenario, whether the Game Master is running it for the Transformers Roleplaying Game 0r the G.I. JOE Roleplaying Game—or as intended, for both. The Player Characters get the opportunity to sneak around, blow stuff up, and defeat the bad guys. As a demonstration scenario, this is exactly what you want. As a scenario in a campaign, this is a short, in-between affair that the Game Master can easily slip into her ongoing plot or develop something from to present a bigger and more complex story.