RIP Super Sentai

After 50 years, Super Sentai is officially over.

I'll be honest, I'm not exactly shedding any tears. Me and Sentai - hell, me and Tokusatsu as a whole - never really clicked. It's one of those things people generally assume I would be into because of how much superhero slop I consume.  I've tried - Sentai, Kamen Rider, Ultra Man, Garo - I really have attempted to give various series a shot at one point or another. It just doesn't work for me unless it's tickling my specific childhood nostalgia for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

But that doesn't mean seeing a pillar of the genre come to an end isn't a bit weird. It's like if DC said they were really gonna cancel Batman. It's just one of those things that is kind of hard to believe. But by all accounts it does seem like Super Sentai will return. Some day. I think it's admirable that they are willing to put the franchise on the back burner while they figure out how to make it relevant again. 

And I do think it's interesting that Super Sentai and Dungeons & Dragons are both facing public crises of relevancy as they hit their 50th anniversaries. 50 years is a long time to expect people to care about anything, much less something that has been kind of forced into walking a very specific tightrope.

I'm sure there's a scholar of both franchises that could probably dive into a deep explanation. I'm just here to chat shit.

One thing I will say in favor of Sentai is that I've always thought it was incredibly gamesble. The concept just lende itself so well to tabletop - color coded roles for your players, magical armor and weapons, power ups, monsters of the week and a big bad with a plan to takeover the world.

Sadly I've found the few Toku inspired games I've read through incredibly disappointing. And I'll give a particular negative callout to Renegade's Power Rangers Roleplaying Game. I was so excited to buy that book and then just gutted as I read through the poorly edited PDF. I could forgive it for just being a d20 system in a trench coat, but not giving you guidelines for creating monsters in the first release was just absolutely grimy.

So while the dream of a dedicated tabletop game is probably a little far (for me at least) maybe there are some bits that can be slotted into your general fantasy tabletop adventure.

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The Metalizer

A metallic, palm sized device containing a removable golden coin stamped with the image of a legendary beast. Known coins include The Griffin, The Auroch, The Dire Wolf, The Unicorn and The Dragon. Rumors insist that coins bearing a Scorpion, Sphinx and Oni have also passed through the hands of coin collectors and metallurgists.

When activated, the wearer gains access to an enchanted set of arms and armor. Without coins, however, the Metalizers are nothing more than fancy belt buckles. 

Metalizers and their coins sometimes turn up in bazaars and treasure caches, but almost never together. They are more likely to be passed down through family lines or from teacher to student at certain martial academies.

At least one known Metalizer is said to be in possession of a warrior known as The Green Hunter, who gained its powers after slaying its previous owner. His coin bears The Dragon and it is said he can breathe fire and has cut down 50 warriors. He has lain claim to the area known as the Wester Quarry ceasing all productivity in the region. The bounty for his defeat bears 4000 gold pieces.

Common weapons include: spears, bows, swords, daggers that are also flutes and axes that are guns 

All Metalizer armor functions as magical chain mail, while all Metalizer weapons function as magical (+1) weapons of their type. While a Metalizer is active its user gains an additional 10 HP. 

Metalizers are believed to carry 3 charges that can be activated to summon their armor and weapons. The charges replenish every 24 hours. Metalizers deactivate if the user suffers a critical hit from a sufficiently powerful enemy or force (the damage is halved.)

These devices and their users are frequently sought out by agents of the Solum Court, an interdimensional cult who believe the existence of life outside their home realn challenges their religious dogma. It is rumored that at some point in the distant past, a party of Metalizer wielding warriors fought off an invasion by the Solum Court but even folklorists have never verified these stories. 

      Eyewitness rendering of Solum Court agents

It has been claimed that other objects similar to Metalizers - collectively dubbed Changers by scholars of cryptomagicka - exist in various forms. Citing folk legends and cave etchings, these scholars have claimed these objects can appear as rings, bracelets, crowns, staves, blades, shields and orbs. Their alleged origins are as varied as their shapes. Cults, Divine Pantheons, Dragons, Shamans and beings from other worlds are all said to be responsible for their creation. 

Perhaps many such devices do exist. We can only hope they end up in the hands of just, responsible heroes.