This question is mostly for +Richard Roger Richard Rogers and +Rory MacLeod (why isn’t G+ tagging his name…?) but…

This question is mostly for +Richard Roger Richard Rogers and +Rory MacLeod (why isn’t G+ tagging his name…?) but…

This question is mostly for +Richard Roger Richard Rogers and +Rory MacLeod (why isn’t G+ tagging his name…?) but also anybody else with experience to compare.

Once I’ve got my toes a bit wetter(?) playing with the Gauntlet, I’m interested in running a war saga a la Robotech, Mobile Suit Gundam, Starship Troopers, Armor or any of those stories where mecha/power suits are the basic front line of combat as opposed to godlike special forces like in Lion Voltron, Gundam Wing (is that the right one?), Evangelion, Rahxephone, etc.

I was a big fan of Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles, but while they do have cool anime-esque art and fun tactical robot combat, they’re pretty trad and don’t enforce the game I want. Coming from trad I want those epic space battles, but the big thing that I loved in those stories was the almost soap opera drama.

So, what are the pros and cons of Uncharted Worlds vs. other stuff I’m unfamiliar with (Impulse Drive, Infinite Galaxies, Adventures on Dungeon Planet, others)? Are there hacks or reskins that would work such as Rich reskinning The Few and 1%er, or maybe a less oppressive take on Night Witches? Although I haven’t read it, people talk about The Veil so highly because of its interpersonal play. Would it lend itself to a hack that adds something like Mecha World, or is that too much trouble – rather, are other full systems perfectly adequate?

Not married to PbtA, btw. Just seems like the rules base that most pushes spiraling fiction.

Long post, too many parentheses. I’m done. Thx in advance for any suggestions/insights.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?447407-Mecha-World-A-Mecha-RPG-Powered-by-the-Apocalypse-(PEACH)

46 thoughts on “This question is mostly for +Richard Roger Richard Rogers and +Rory MacLeod (why isn’t G+ tagging his name…?) but…”

  5. I’m planning to do a mecha setting for Infinite Galaxies, but it’s not anywhere near done. The basic idea is that the playbooks would be a bit different than standard IG and mechs would have their playbook (like the Ship does now). I can’t speak to the rest of those, which I haven’t played, with the exception of ADP, which I don’t think would get you any further than just using IG.

  6. I’m planning to do a mecha setting for Infinite Galaxies, but it’s not anywhere near done. The basic idea is that the playbooks would be a bit different than standard IG and mechs would have their playbook (like the Ship does now). I can’t speak to the rest of those, which I haven’t played, with the exception of ADP, which I don’t think would get you any further than just using IG.

  7. I’ve long held the opinion that Masks could do exactly the kind of mecha drama that I’d like to see, which is very close to what you describe, pretty much as is. Replace superpowers with mech systems, acknowledge that the mechs and pilots are tied together on an intricate narrative level, and you’re mostly there.

    Crazy powerful experimental mech like Wing Zero? Go Nova. Hot headed pilot who leaps in without thinking and breaks everything? Bull. Plucky youth who goes into battle with an old mech they scraped together and survives on wits and guts? Beacon. Shinji Ikari? Doomed.

  8. I’ve long held the opinion that Masks could do exactly the kind of mecha drama that I’d like to see, which is very close to what you describe, pretty much as is. Replace superpowers with mech systems, acknowledge that the mechs and pilots are tied together on an intricate narrative level, and you’re mostly there.

    Crazy powerful experimental mech like Wing Zero? Go Nova. Hot headed pilot who leaps in without thinking and breaks everything? Bull. Plucky youth who goes into battle with an old mech they scraped together and survives on wits and guts? Beacon. Shinji Ikari? Doomed.

  9. James Etheridge I was thinking that too! But I wasn’t sure how to justify shifting labels so much in genre. Also, I was trying to figure out who would be the “adults” in terms of people with influence. Yeah, you could just minimize it, but I feel like it’s such a relevant part of the mechanics that I’d rather try to incorporate it.

  10. James Etheridge I was thinking that too! But I wasn’t sure how to justify shifting labels so much in genre. Also, I was trying to figure out who would be the “adults” in terms of people with influence. Yeah, you could just minimize it, but I feel like it’s such a relevant part of the mechanics that I’d rather try to incorporate it.

  13. How often do you really see mech pilots who are older than teens to mid twenties, though? I mean they’re there, but they’re usually side characters. Mechs and the wars they fight are a metaphor for growing up a lot of the time.

    And the best shows have the pilots constantly questioning why they fight and what their purpose is. Label shifting totally works! But that’s just my two cents, and I’ve still never tried actually running it to see how well it works.

  14. How often do you really see mech pilots who are older than teens to mid twenties, though? I mean they’re there, but they’re usually side characters. Mechs and the wars they fight are a metaphor for growing up a lot of the time.

    And the best shows have the pilots constantly questioning why they fight and what their purpose is. Label shifting totally works! But that’s just my two cents, and I’ve still never tried actually running it to see how well it works.

  21. My thing was mostly about trying to use PbtA to quickly get into archetypcal characters while trying to capture that bolted-on parts feel of Battletech. It wasn’t so much about the soap opera action around the base – you can DO that, but there’s not a lot of support for it.

  22. My thing was mostly about trying to use PbtA to quickly get into archetypcal characters while trying to capture that bolted-on parts feel of Battletech. It wasn’t so much about the soap opera action around the base – you can DO that, but there’s not a lot of support for it.

  29. As much as I did the Masks idea, I also kind of want to just run Masks. I think it would lend itself to playing villains for the same reasons it does teens teens, and there’s an old Savage Worlds campaign called Necessary Evil that I’d love to strip the Savage Worlds out from…

  30. As much as I did the Masks idea, I also kind of want to just run Masks. I think it would lend itself to playing villains for the same reasons it does teens teens, and there’s an old Savage Worlds campaign called Necessary Evil that I’d love to strip the Savage Worlds out from…

  33. An interesting thought experiment might be to take the same scenario and run it on Test Drive, er, Tuesdays? Sundays? Anyway, do it with Masks, Infinite Galaxies, and Beam Sabers on three different nights, just to see the mechanical differences.

  34. An interesting thought experiment might be to take the same scenario and run it on Test Drive, er, Tuesdays? Sundays? Anyway, do it with Masks, Infinite Galaxies, and Beam Sabers on three different nights, just to see the mechanical differences.

  35. Michael G. Barford Firebrands is interesting and is really helpful in understanding what works in Gundam style stories (imperial conflict, manners drama, dancing, etc.) but is very structured.

  36. Michael G. Barford Firebrands is interesting and is really helpful in understanding what works in Gundam style stories (imperial conflict, manners drama, dancing, etc.) but is very structured.

  41. A big thank you to Volsung 2d6plusCool for showing me this thread. This is all I’ve ever wanted !

    On another note. I’ve tried Firebrands for the first time this week but the very structured nature of it didn’t sit well with our group. I also find that there is a lot of latency between the moment you engage the rules and the one when you engage the fiction which makes it harder for me to get into it.

  42. A big thank you to Volsung 2d6plusCool for showing me this thread. This is all I’ve ever wanted !

    On another note. I’ve tried Firebrands for the first time this week but the very structured nature of it didn’t sit well with our group. I also find that there is a lot of latency between the moment you engage the rules and the one when you engage the fiction which makes it harder for me to get into it.

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