Tabletop RPGs For Power Rangers Fans

Looking for a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the Super Sentai franchise, its Power Rangers spin-off, and other shows about color-coded superhero teams? The RPG systems below feature rules, character creation mechanics and storytelling principles that immerse players in Power Rangers-style narratives, where battles start off with dramatic superhero transformations, monsters explode when they’re defeated, and the power of friendship and understanding really can make people invincible.

Many people who grew up in the 1990s spent their Saturday mornings watching episodes of Power Rangers – both the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and its sequel shows, such as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and Power Rangers Time Force. The series’ settings, protagonists, and antagonists would change with each installment, but the core premise remained: To defeat the evil ambitions of a monster-wrangling villain, a group of teenage heroes would use special devices or amulets to “morph” into colorful superhero outfits, fight off hordes of minions on foot, then summon giant, combining robots to defeat a giant kaiju monster in the episode’s final act.

The Power Rangers shows, and the Japanese Super Sentai shows they were adapted from, are certainly cheesy at times, with their fixation on transformation sequences, elaborate team poses, and hammy supervillains. They also happen to teach kids (and some adults) important lessons about friendship, trust, and how people who work together can be more powerful than the sum of their parts. The following Power Rangers-inspired games were made by RPG designers who wanted to pay homage to the corny, earnest qualities of Power Rangers/Super Sentai shows, while also giving players frameworks to tell stories with more nuanced, diverse characters and conflicts that aren’t so black-and-white.

Power Rangers Roleplaying Game

The Power Rangers Roleplaying Game, currently in development by Renegade Game Studios, aims to let players create their own Power Rangers protagonists with unique colors, personality traits, weapons, and Zords. The RPG’s default setting is the town of Angel Grove from the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, complete with iconic villains such as Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, but its custom d20 ruleset, from the looks of things, will give game masters tools to create their own antagonists, settings, “monster of the week” game plots, and long-term story arcs.

Queerz! TTRPG

The Queerz! TTRPG, an adaptation of the original QUEERZ! manga by Isago Fukuda, is a roleplaying game about LGBTQ+ superheroes who battle villains that personify intolerance and bigotry. Queerz! TTRPG uses the City of Mist system, a flexible variant of the Powered By The Apocalypse ruleset, to create over-the-top, Power Rangers-like battle scenarios, scenes of characters experiencing trials and joys in their everyday lives, and Persona-style RPG journeys into the twisted mindscapes of their antagonists.

Henshin!

Designed and published by Cave Of Monsters Games, Henshin! (named after the phrase many Japanese TV superheroes says before transforming) is a setting-agnostic RPG players and GMs can use to tell their own stories about color-coded hero teams in the vein of Power Rangers. The diceless RPG gameplay of Henshin! is centered around the exchange of tokens between players and a narrator, focusing not so much on victory or defeat but on the goals player characters accomplish and the lessons they learn. Cave of Monsters Games has also published a more competitive hack of Henshin! called Rider Konchu, inspired by the darker, more mature Japanese superhero franchise Kamen Rider.

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