What is /m/'s choice?
Lancer sucks. Ugly art and robot designs, clunky gameplay that feels like someone's bad homebrew, some of the worst writing and setting shit I've ever seen in a ttrpg, the initial book was lacking in critical resources to run it, etc..For actually good mecha TTRPG I'd recommend Embryo Machine (the TTRPG, NOT - I repeat - NOT the board game adaptation that got localized). It's a Japanese TTRPG by a long-time vaunted developer with a Panzer World Galient-esque setting and a unique "plotting" mechanic mechanic for action declaration that simulates the difficulty of controlling mechs. Also has pretty solid part based mech building that's quick but lets you get real creative.Battletech is also a pretty fun game mechanically but be prepared for super mega autism even if you use Megamek to run it. Also it's a wargame so you have to staple the ttrpg rules on top of it.Other recommendations:>Princess Wing, Japanese mecha musume ttrpg with an incredibly cool playing-card based battle system>Heavy Gear, I'm not familliar with this one myself but it comes heavily recommended from people who's taste I trust>Revulture, 1 on 1 Japanese Mecha TTRPG focused on romance and a pretty unique "ai" system for boss fights that turns them into tactical trial-and-error shmup-esque pattern based encounters>Tokyo Nova, kitchen sink japanese cyberpunk RPG but notable for the insane amount of mechs and general /m/ influence and homages that are fucking everywhere.>One anon is almost done translating the official Armored Core 6 TTRPG and apparently it's pretty solid and unique, though low on RP stuff.Probably more I'm forgetting, there's a few other JP Mecha TTRPG out there that a certain anon is working on translating.One of these days I want to try and run a mecha game in Genesys since Star Wars FFG has fucking killer vehicle rules and the games system would be great for simulating environmental destruction, parts destruction, etc. in a low hastle way.
