News Roundup: Renegade Game Studios to Abandon Essence20 for 5.5e

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This week, I’m doing a good bit of catch-up. We had a lot of news this week, between the Paizo layoffs and the RPG Trader interview. But we also had a big news revelation on Friday when Renegade Game Studios announced that it is embracing 5.5e over its old system, Essence20.

We also have RenegadeCon and Onyx Path’s new release schedule and a bit of additional Paizo news. Stay tuned! Lots is on the way.

I do have a bit of personal news. I’m starting a job at my local news outlet as an producer. Very excited to get back to doing non-TTRPG journalism alongside this project. I suspect it should not impact the schedule, but I need to get my hands on the job before I can say more.

Renegade Game Studios Abandons Essence20, Embraces 5.5e through Updates to Power Rangers, GI Joe, Transformers TTRPGs

Renegade Game Studios, the publisher behind the TTRPG adaptations of popular IPs like GI Joe and Transformers, has decided to abandon its own ruleset in favor of Wizards of the Coast’s updated 2024 D&D rules.

The company announced on Friday at its online convention RenegadeCon that it is planning to launch 2nd editions for the Transformers, GI Joe and Power Rangers. The new games, which will crowdfund at a later date, will now be 5.5e compatible, instead of built on Renegade’s Essence20 ruleset.

The second editions of Transformers and GI Joe will be crowdfunded via Backerkit at a later date, followed by Power Rangers. My Little Pony, the company’s other Essence20 game, was not mentioned during the stream, making its fate unclear.

Renegade confirmed that it also intends to release a conversion kit to help adapt past Essence20 supplements to the new ruleset.

The Essence20 ruleset was initially introduced in 2021 and bears a similar resemblance to D&D’s standard OGL ruleset (with slight modifications to reflect the basic vibes of each setting).

The decision to abandon its old ruleset took many by surprise, though there is some logic to it. Hasbro, the owner of D&D and its ruleset, also owns the Transformers, GI Joe and MLP IPs. Adapting them to a ruleset owned by D&D makes a lot of sense, especially with Renegade also printing Hasbro’s upcoming Exodus TTRPG.

Interested parties can sign up for email updates around this new ruleset here.

Other TTRPG Releases Planned from Renegade Game Studios

There were several other TTRPG releases announced during RenegadeCon this weekend. They include:

• Several Dungeon Crawler Carl Loot Packs, which will provide dice sets based on the game’s characters. (October 2026)

• An oversized D20 featuring Samantha, the vampiric severed head from the Dungeon Crawler Carl book series. (November 2026)

• Exodus RPG: Chronicles of Melayu, a supplement that provides extensive details for GMs to use while running the sci-fi TTRPG (October 2026)

• a GM screen and dice set for Exodus

• Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Tribes of Gaia, a supplement that details the 11 tribes of the setting and a variety of new character options.

No mention was made of Vampire: the Masquerade 6th Edition, which was alluded to at the LARP event Darkness Emergent, followed by playtests scheduled at GenCon 2026. Additional details are scheduled to be released at the gaming convention at the end of July.

Former brand marketing manager Jason Carl said that the team’s plan to begin designing VTM in-house after the rebranding to White Wolf would not affect the company’s partnership with Renegade, so the company is expected to continue publishing VTM content for the time being.

Onyx Path Previews Plans for Rest of 2026, Teases an Update to the Demigod-Focused Scion TTRPG

Onyx Path Publishing, the team behind Exalted, Curseborne and the Storypath System, previewed its TTRPG plans for the second half of 2026 last weekend during its annual online convention.

The big reveal was a 3rd Edition for Scion, the company’s game focused on demigods and gods in a modern setting. The big update appears to focus on changing the game to use the Storypath Ultra ruleset, Onyx Path’s updated ruleset. The project is expected to crowdfund in 2027.

The company also released Scion 2e on Demiplane, which will allow players to access books and create characters within the website.

Three additional books were announced:

• Curseborne Covenant, a book that will add another tier of “entanglements” aka levels, to the game. It will also allow tables to move from local play to larger game focuses, as well as a focus on the “families” (the game’s term for the various creature types that players may inhabit)

• Liminal, a new book for Exalted 3e

• Jadestorm, a new addition to the Earthbane Saga

Additional information will be released in the future.

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While I covered the initial reports around Paizo’s layoffs, Rascal got a chance to speak with Paizo CEO Jim Butler about what the reorganization and layoffs mean for the company.

Speaking of Paizo, the Pathfinder publisher announced plans to preview the rules for its upcoming rules-light horror game, 13 Omens, on Saturday.

13 Omens is a "modern, supernatural, rules - lite horror TTRPG set in a dark reflection of our world; beset by horrifying specters, bloodthirsty killers, cursed places, and secrets best left unknown.” The game is a notable deviation from Paizo’s fantasy-focused TTRPG style.

A preview version of the game’s rules will be available to acquire at GenCon 2026. I also expect digital copies to be made available in the near future as well.

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