''Road Hogs'' is the second supplement to the '' After the Bomb'' setting of the ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness'' is a role-playing game based on the comic book created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The core rulebook was first published by Palladium Books in September 1985 – a couple years before the ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

. It was published by

Palladium Books Palladium Books is a publisher of role-playing games (RPGs) perhaps best known for its popular, expansive '' Rifts'' series (1990–present). Palladium was founded April 1981 in Detroit, Michigan by current president and lead game designer Kevin ...

in October 1986 and uses the Palladium

Megaversal system The Megaversal system, sometimes known as the Palladium system, is a role-playing game system used in most of the role-playing games published by Palladium Books. It uses dice for roll-under percentile skill checks, roll-high combat checks and sav ...

Publication history

''Road Hogs'' was written by

Erick Wujcik Erick A. Wujcik (January 26, 1951 – June 7, 2008) was an American designer of both pen-and-paper and computer role-playing games, and co-founder of Palladium Books. Gaming career Wujcik started off as head of the gaming society at Wayne S ...

, and was published by

in 1987 as a 48-page book.

Content

''Road Hogs'' is an '' After the Bomb!'' supplement describing the postholocaust West Coast, including maps, new character rules, new animals, equipment and skills. The book focuses on vehicle combat, with a scenario and a comics story.

Setting

The storyline of ''After the Bomb'' introduced a post-nuclear warfare setting centered around the eastern United States, where most of the area is populated by

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animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s that form the predominant societies, as opposed to the setting of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness'' where mutants live on the fringes of contemporary human society. ''Road Hogs'' expands that setting to include the western United States, which is largely controlled by vicious gangs of mutants in heavily modified vehicles, scavenging for their existence. It is reminiscent of the movie ''

The Road Warrior ''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the ''Mad Max'' franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role a ...

''. The book outlines many new rules for the operation of vehicles and acquisition of resources in a bleak wasteland setting, as well as several adventure scenarios. These include road maps of

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and

Central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the San J ...

that indicate where the various factions and gangs occupying the region are located. Most of the civilized mutants and humans are located in what was previously known as

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. A short story was included with the book to give feel of environment the supplement provided. It involves the tale of an ancient, slightly senile turtle martial-arts master who wields a pair of

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, hinting that this character may in fact be

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

. He also mistakes one of his students for "

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

". This suggests that he was one of the original

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

. The book is also noted for its original artwork by ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' co-creator

Kevin Eastman Kevin Brooks Eastman (born May 30, 1962) is an American comics artist, comic book artist and writer best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine ...

, which has not been reproduced in other books from Palladium.

Reviews

*''

GamesMaster International ''GamesMaster International'', or GMI, was a roleplaying game magazine in the UK published by Newsfield Publications starting in July 1990. It was subtitled the Independent Fantasy Gaming Monthly. The magazine featured the same editorial team as ...

'' Issue 1 - Aug 1990

References

* * {{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1986 books After the Bomb (game) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness