I love the new Planet of the Apes RPG. It is awesome! As I posted elsewhere:
The game design is a modified version of the West End Games D6 System used with the original Star Wars RPG. It cleaves fairly closely to that system, making a few adjustments due to the less tech-oriented nature of the setting. It is a skills-based system, where you roll a set of d6s based on your attribute and subskill, seeking to match or exceed a target number. You choose your race and skill set when you start play, then improvement continues with skill use or practice and training. As with Star Wars, this system works very well with a cinematic style of play. Characters suffer damage as wounds rather than as hit points, for example, with effects that adjust their abilities in play.
It hits the sweet spot of balance of system and setting; the authors really, REALLY know and love the POTA (I've been a fan since before Star Wars, have seen all the movies and TV shows, read all the comics and books, etc., so I can tell they REALLY know their stuff). The knowledge and love of the material really comes through.
Adventure and campaign style and direction can vary greatly, depending on which era you set your campaign and what your mix of characters are. The eras span everything from all the films, from the 1970s to the 40th Century. The RPGPOTA core book provides all the basics needed to run a game and start your own campaign; The ANSA Files sourcebook provides all the details, including amazing depth of history, tech, and NPCs, for all five films.
There are hints from the comic book and the live-action TV show as well, but those are not delved into in any great depth.
There are several primary character types: Apes, Modern Humans (Astro-nauts in the far future), Primitive Humans (the mute humans from the first two films), and Mutants (from Beneath). Guidance is provided for groups of one or mixed types, and all sorts of adventures can be had.
You could, for example, run Escape from the Planet of the Apes with your own ape characters! You could run Conquest or Battle with a mix of allied apes and humans. You could run Planet and Beneath with your own Astro-nauts. Or develop something in-between, like the TV series or even the animated TV series... the possibilities are endless, and between the core RPGPOTA book and The ANSA Files, you have everything you need for infinite campaigns or adventures.
Into the Forbidden Zone is a boxed set campaign that provides even further information on the Forbidden Zone, a complete series of campaign adventures, and a ton of additional random tables and other information to develop even further adventures and campaigns.
Like any other RPG, it is whatever you make of it. You can create one-off adventures, a series of related adventures, a sandbox campaign -- whatever you and your players want to do. You could even use the Star Wars RPG or other D6 System based RPGs to add in other flavors... maybe the POTA is actually a planet in the Star Wars Galaxy. Maybe instead of mutants, there are super-heroes? Maybe you can add magic, and the orangutans are real priests with magic spells, and there are chimp wizards?
The RPGPOTA provides enough to make your own campaign; The ANSA Files gives you everything you need to fit that campaign or any adventure perfectly into the frames of any movie (with your PCs as the new stars or as new side characters); and Into the Forbidden Zone provides a solid example of how to design and run a campaign.
Essentially, if you love POTA, you MUST HAVE THIS! If you like science-fiction in general, especially PA sci-fi books or games (such as Gamma World), this is also a must-buy.
And here is my WIP on a campaign map in the area of the original POTA (New York). Scale is 5 kilometers/3 miles per hex:
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| Right click to embiggen |
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