Welcome to Mecha Monday! Here we dedicate ourselves to mecha RPGs, war games, and board games alike. Here we start games, tell campaign stories, share resources & assets, and seek advice for our games and homebrew.Let us know what needs to be updated with the pastebin.Assorted Mecha Goodness:https://pastebin.com/E2wi55AZEmbryo Machine Translationhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1r_cjOLuUp3HussVRhbQYU3G0zK6hwy1rPrevious Thread: >>93087652Thread Question: What kind of tone is your game? Are you light-hearted mecha action, or are you serious war drama? Both?Thread Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtji4oRvcdA
Mecha monday came early. Today I had a 2 v 1, 200 TV game of South + BT vs Earth. All my Talons died except a Vulture and Dark Mamba who hid. Luckily my southern partner in crime was able to pick up my slack and we managed to get 7 objectives over Earth's 6. Overlords are no joke but luckily my Dark Kodiaks particle accelerator came in real handy early game. All of Terra Nova should press F in respect to the lives of our Talon frends.
>>93148390Black Talons are NOT sending they're best
Finally wrangled the missile lock math down, plus finished writing a bunch of other important stuff that wasn't done when I posted last week. Here it is, version 0.2.
>>93147037>TQLike most things, I like a balance. Not really half-and-half, but some light-hearted stuff is good to give players a break and let other, more important and serious things brew.On another note, I'm continuing to enjoy reading Embryo Machine. Very solid game, it was fun just to make a character. I should try to get into a game sometime, don't know many people I can pull into this kind of thing.
god i love knights
>>93148390BT are the best when they're hiding. Use that Stealth trait!Still, glad that you won and F for the dead glowies.
>>93150758>>93148390Also plz post more pics from the game if you got em, I always like the looks of HG tables
>>93150310I still maintain that AT was probably the best game GW has made in over 10 years.
>>93148390Hey, I just wanted to let you know I posted your group on twitter and like 140+ people liked it, so way to go on your paintjob
>>93150774Sure. There's this one where you can get a glimpse of the carnage. The Overlord nearly one shot my Kodiak and then used a Frame to mop him up.>>93152054Cool. Glad people like the paintjob. It's definitely one of my better ones, my early norf box looks tragic in comparison.
>>93153850Oops, forgot photo.
Btw while on the subject of Heavy Gear. I was wondering, why does both Eden and Utopia have APE suits? The distance between them on the gate web map doesn't make it look like the transfer would be easy. And if they did, does that mean Earth and Caprice could have excess APE suits as well?
>>93153899APES welcome form back when there was a Human Concordat so they spread throughout the colonies. Caprice doesn’t have them (they used spider-thingies) but there are probably a few on earth.
Design sharing because of cheap manufacture and easier standardization being deemed valuable by their Earth overlords, most likely.Between Eden and Utopia specifically, unless I'm remembering incorrectly, the designs were fairly similar in the first place as a consequence of the machines that they developed from.
>>93154006>>93153899Forgot to respond, my bad.
>>93153976>>93154006Ah, that makes sense. Might be my headcanon but I believe the environment of Caprice, Atlantis, were also too extreme for APEs (or rather the precursor) and Terra Nova already had Hardhats and were mostly isolated to their own gate system. And NJ was church ran, against extreme terraforming so they didn't want the APEs. I could see an attempt at standardization across the more earth-like colonies or the ones that undergo extreme terraforming. Just makes me wonder if Home or Jotenheim also have APEs (I doubt it for Jotenheim)
>>93154112Atlantis actually does have a a small number of aquatic APES like the Oannes, they just didn’t develop them further. Jotenheim is too rough for them, plus… well, you’ll see. Home probably had a few.
I still maintain my opinion Armigers should have been Eden's generic Mecha name. still unsure about New Jerusalem generic mecha name but angels still sound too fantasy like. APE is perfect for Mecha that evolved from Power Armor for Utopia and I wished all armiger units where just super apes
>>93154180>Jotenheim is too rough for them, plus… well, you’ll see.Interest piqued.On that last note; Home is just a manufacturing planet, right? I'm having trouble remembering any details about that planet and I always have trouble tracking down material on it from the various sourcebooks.
>>93154180>Atlantis actually does have a a small number of aquatic APES like the Oannes, they just didn’t develop them further.Yeah, they instead had these diving suits that I imagine the got more use out of. It's neat that they had some Oannes though. Could be a cool inclusion for whatever a future Atlantis army looks like.
>>93154268Could just be Terra Nova biased and call them all "Gears". It's what the blitz rulebook has them all classified as anyways. Maybe it's a planetary dialect thing. Like how "mecha" as a term is borrowed from japanese but has a different meaning in english and is both seperate from "mechanical" where japanese got it from. "Angel" might just be what NJ calls all walker units. You could acronym it, SAC is what the Cherubim would be acronymed as. "Apostle" could have also worked as the generic catch all term for NJ mecha.
>>93148789I'm liking this so far. A silhouette Armored Core like sounds up my alley. Do you think you'd give nicknames to some of the parts listed in the game? It might make it easier to say I have a "viper" FCS instead of having to list out it's role.
>>93153899It was an Earth Concordat worker suit akin to Terra Nova's Hardhat. They supplied it to multiple colonieshttps://heavygear.wiki.gg/wiki/APE
>>93154383I still disagree with the "apostle" termonology, maybe for the Pilots. personally if I was in the writing staff whenever that desision was made I would of opted for "Archs". something like "Angelic Reactive Combat Harnes". it would still of had "angel" in the name but then the rest would of sounded like a slightly plausable if extremly silly military equipment. im not sure if I even like HG outside of the stuff established by first and maybe second edition. Terra Nova Kicks ass but Im trying to convince myself too like the stuff outside the 'core' of it all.GOD damn I just want a halfway good votom RPG for christ sake
Looks like Hardwar is stepping up
>>93154645>im not sure if I even like HG outside of the stuff established by first and maybe second edition. Terra Nova kicks ass but Im trying to convince myself too like the stuff outside the 'core' of it all.Understandable on some level. I think the colonies suffer slightly from being underbaked and for lack of a better term "gimmicky". Whatever gimmick that Terra Nova had got masked hard by the various worldbuilding that went with it. Personally I like the colonies (except Eden but I know we have Eden fans here as well). You could just keep it to Terra Nova still as outside Earth, the colonies seem to have small effects on Terra Nova anyways.>GOD damn I just want a halfway good votom RPG for christ sakeWell there's the RTG game in the pastebin, there was also a homebrew that an anon was working on here that is also in the pastebin I believe.
>>93154679Interesting. Modiphius is just getting all the licenses huh. Slightly unrelated to mecha monday but I am curious about the Fallout wargame that they released. Just wish the aesthetic wasn't so "Fallout 4" (The X-01 looks ugly to me compared to the F2 APA). Also never really heard of Hardwar prior to this, I'll be honest it looks like another Alpha Strike clone.
>>93154724>Well there's the RTG gamecovers only the OG show, leaves out everything else useful for running a proper game including but not limited too, ground fatties. Danger Melons. other worlds. actual political situations on said worlds. political over views of the Gilgamesh and Balarent governments. anti AT rifles.>there was also a homebrew that an anon was workinghas the same problem of having massive swathes of content of the show missing ontop of being only halfway finished
>>93154777>ground fatties. Danger Melons. other worlds. actual political situations on said worlds. political over views of the Gilgamesh and Balarent governments. anti AT rifles.Not that surprised. I think when the RTG game got released that the OVAs like Big Battle, Mellowlink, Last Red Shoulder had probably just been translated in the west. I don't think we even had Shining Heresy as it just got made only some years back. Let alone that the later stuff like Pailsen Files and Case Irvine didn't even exist. I'm not confident in that though as I was not an existing Votoms fan back then. Shame about the homebrew not being finished as there's definitely an opportunity to include all of the later cool stuff like the Order Buckler AT. You might be out of luck in terms of getting an all in one Votoms experiences, not without putting in some work yourself at least.
>>93154872at this point im nearly convinced that Both HG and Battletech had the right idea where they mearly stole the designs from said shows they both took inspiration from and doing they're own things with the settings. Trying too make RPG books off of pre existing classic Mecha settings outside of UC Gundam is cursed do to how little information there is for the worlds presented. despite setting bibles absolutely existing for said properties
>>93154594Oh I very much plan to. The reason they just have role names instead of actual in-universe names is so I can easily read their purpose at a glance while editing and continuing to develop the system as I go on. Plus, the whole parts system is on its third design iteration after two previous attempts crashed and burned spectacularly.And yes, this is blatantly meant to be 'the Armored Core' TTRPG in spirit. It's using Silhouette-lite because I really like how intuitive it is, but it's borrowing some ideas as well from another /tg/-produced game called ChromeStrike. Do check that out.
>>93155099Yeah, It's far easier to work with your own universe with blackjack and hookers than it is to follow up on an existing IP. Shame about Votoms though as I do believe there to be potential in it's greater universe akin to UC Gundam. I really liked Mellowlink. Irvine was alright too though didn't feel much like Votoms at all. With BT and HG it's also easier to do your own thing as there's very much a cultural and language barrier that could make that kind of universe building difficult. Wouldn't want to make something like 0079: The War for Earth but Votoms. I think that's why I also like the colonies for Heavy Gear as it gives Heavy Gear itself more of an independent identity.
>>93154645I still don’t get why you hate “Angel” so muchWhat else is the Pope Planet going to call their mechs >>93154724The colonies only showing up after most of the original writing team had quit and the company had entered a downward spiral didn’t help
>>93155259its too Fantasy like for a sci fi that parades itself as Hard Sci fi. same with Golems. I genuinly do think the writing team could have made sound something that sound more in line with what Earth Utopia and Caprice had while still keeping with the space jerusalem themeanyhow, I Know Who You Are
>>93155305I don’t see how APES is any less silly And I know who you are too, hope you can get that new game going
>>93155259In someway I can see what anon is saying. Gear and Frame are nice and simplistic terms. Golem and Angel are kinda on the nose. But given the cultures of Eden and NJ they might actually be more subtle terms then what they could have used. I still might have went for Apostle, it just sounds more humble to me and keeps the theming instead of something real generic like "Cog", or IP infringement like "Mobile Suit"
>>93155482Apostle is already the name of one of the individual units, so it couldn’t be used
What colors should i paint my 2 Blitz Jagers?
>>93155835Well, the same as the rest of the squad, shouldn't ya?Flame jagers should be exclusively red though. Protocol be damned
>>93153865Oh, that's the good shit.Man that tank is big.
>>93155546Angel also sounds like it could have been the name of a individual NJ unit. Same with golem with Eden. "Mount" "frames" and "APEs"/Armiger's don't nessecarally sound like they would be individual units in a army like a Zaku 2 would or a roundfacer. Or an Atlas for that matter
>>93155835Whats a good MILICIA scheme then?
>>93156389Any drab sort of color would work. Army workforce kind of thing.
>>93155482One cool term I saw for fantasy mechs was "Monstrance", as in the vessel Catholics carry the consecrated Eucharist in. "Raiment" is also one I'm pretty fond of, since it's just a fancy way of saying armor.
>>93156591It really is just a matter of what you make it for, making it make sense both in-universe and out of universe and having it not sound retarded to say. It's like a band name, kind of.
>>93156657Absolutely, hence why I was throwing a few more into the ring for your consideration. "Grand Raiment of Judgement: Deliverance Blade" or "Divine Monstrance of His Absolution: Mantle of Kings" is obviously going to have a completely different vibe to it than "Mobile Gear: Atomos" or "Armored Platform: FAT STOMP", it's all about what you're going for.
>>93156376Mount and Frame sound like types, but Armiger and APE could easily be individual units
>>93156748big wrong. given the contexts of both with APE being a acronym for a large suit of power armor and Armiger being someone who is granted too use armor it would be insane too consider them a kind of a individual unit. you are insane, anon. back too the slave cave with you
How many of you fa/tg/uys are going to watch Grendizer U when it starts airing next Saturday?
>>93158315This general may or may not kill me but I've never actually watched any super robot stuff before. I'd be willing to check out Grendizer U though.
>>93158315I’m not a super robot fan myself either, but maybe I should give it a go regardless. That Megaton Musashi thing I saw bits and pieces of looked neat, maybe I should expand my horizons. Who knows, could give ideas.
>>93154777>covers only the OG showYeah, that was all the license covered -- the show ONLY, and we had to use the terminology the subs used. I really hated that we had to call the Strong Bacchus the 'Strongbox' and Gilgameth 'Gilgamesh' but what can ya do...?>leaves out everything else useful for running a proper game including but not limited too, ground fatties. Danger Melons. Well, there is an AT construction system -- you could use to to build other ATs. And the underlying construction system is that of Mekton Z+, including conversion rules. So you could spec out all the those if you wanted to.>other worlds. actual political situations on said worlds. political over views of the Gilgamesh and Balarent governments. anti AT rifles.As far as the TV series goes, that information wasn't available. We weren't really allowed to make stuff up or include things from sources other than the show. Ah well!
>>93156591>Monstranceholy fuck what an AWESOME word
>>93158315>>93158341I fucking love super robots, I'm determined to systematize them. Totally gonna be watching Grendizer U. In the meantime I'm slowly working my way through Srungle... What a weird little show.
>>93158872Where could one get the Grandly dog kit? Or is it a kitbash sort of deal?
>>93158998I'm not sure a Grantlydog kit or toy was ever made. Since it's a Bloodsucker colored like a Scopedog, a Bloodsucker kit/toy might be your best bet... And even that is a tall order.
>>93158872Balarant and Gilgamesh sounds way better than Balalant and Gilgameth.
>>93159050One of the fansubs I was watching had it as Valorant and seeing as Votoms is a pun on Bottoms I would ultimately prefer that as a name. Or at least it makes the most sense to me. Gilgamesh is good.
>>93156858I mean you can say the same for angel too, it’s a category covering a whole bunch of different beings (which is actually the reasoning behind the name, they’re split into subtypes based on the different orders)
>>93158872Strongbox and Gilgamesh are correct, though, Bacchus and Meth are mistranslations that happened to be used in the Japanese material
>>93150907Howling Griffons! Pretty cool!
Economy in your mech game, yay or nay?
>>93159255For an RPG? Might be a bit annoying to really keep track of. I feel like in our group whenever money comes up we just have the master wallet that all players can pull from. Ultimately it might just be one of those preference things that's gonna differ from group to group.
I'm suddenly getting flashbacks to early 2000s weebs insisting on saying Arukado.
>>93159050>>93159148Balarant vs Balalant is six of one and half a dozen of the other; both are correct to the original Japanese because of the R/L thing. I don't care about that. As to whether Gilgameth or Giglamesh "sounds better," that's a matter of opinion. But Gilgamesh is wrong. >>93159222Nnnnnno... Strongbox and Gilgamesh are wrong. Gilgameth/Giglgamesh:It's written ギルガメス in Japanese. That's "GiRuGaMeSu" -- Gilgamess or Gilgameth. Gilgamesh would be ギルガメシュ ("GiRuGaMeShu").StrongBacchus/Strongbox:It's written ストロングバックス in Japanese. That's "SuToRoNGuBaKkuSu" -- StrongBacchus. Strongbox would be ストロングボックス ("SuToRoNGuBoKkuSu").This also ties in with another frustrating romanization: the Marduk mecha called the Gigamesh. All the English-language Macross II stuff calls it the Gilgamesh, but that's wrong, it's Gigamesh. "Giga," like billion or giant.Gilgamesh = ギルガメシュ Gigamesh = ギガメシュ (this is how it's written in Japanese).Not that any of this matters. Except to me. Because I'm a nitpicker, I guess.
>>93159323>I'm suddenly getting flashbacks to early 2000s weebs insisting on saying Arukado.Instead of Alucard? Fuck me. At least I'm not that bad!
>>93159291as long as it doesn't exceed a hundred, it is manageable
>>93159414>As to whether Gilgameth or Giglamesh "sounds better," that's a matter of opinionto be entirely fair, one is an ancient mesopotamian hero immortalized in one of the earliest epics in written history while the other one sounds like street slang for a new type of amphetamine(maybe the people who laid down the western terminology came to the same conclusion all things considered)
>>93160083Gilgameth sounds like a rapper
>>93159246Ignatum/Fire Wasps actually. Nice try though. Technically they should have some black and white checks and some fire decals... but crucially, those are a ballache to paint.
>>93160083>>93160489So then you must have a problem with the name of the Elmeth too, huh?
>>93163623That sounds like a proper Hebrew word, rather than a Sumerian one said by somebody with a lisp.
>>93159414I am here to konjure eldritch spirits of a bygone age.
>>93163623Tallgeese is the better gundo name that's a butchery of an old greek word, anyways. Tallgeese came from the word Theurgist translated through japanglish and then getting Tomino'd to hell.
>>93164226I kind of love Tallgeese though.
>>93159255As the guy who has to help the other players spend their experience points (some of them didn't even have all their char-gen shit written down!), I'd advise making the economy as simple as possible. Or accept that a lot of players just won't engage with it, haha>>93164260Everyone does, anon
>>93163990>>93164226And it turns out that 'Elmeth' is actually a weird romanization of "Hermes".
>>93164957I've got price tiers worked out already to make it very straightforward. Given that I'm making essentially Silhouette Armored Core, part of being Armored Core is paying for ammo and repairs. But good point regardless, I will make sure it's simple.>>93159291That is true. I'll see if I can't modularize it so it's an optional rule I suppose.
>>93148789New update, now parts have actual names rather than empty spaces or generic descriptors. I've finally added the metacurrency mechanic I've been working on called The Devil's Due, and most importantly - Armor is now something to account for and not just something you build up with bigger parts. You now have to pick parts and take into account what they contribute - and more importantly, so they function with called shots.Expect the in-game economy, an enemy guide and weapon variants (which means weapons also get names and not generic types)
>>93167966*in the next update. I’m retarded.
Is mekton bro here still? I wanna talk the Votoms RPG with you/him in private if at all possible. Or maybe Gundam Senki maybe too
>>93168214Why in private
>>93168322Anon is gonna send bussy pics in exchange for Votoms secrets.
>>93168214Ahoy. What's cookin'?>>93168322>>93168391I can only hope!
>>93156591I personally like 'Mantle' for knightly magitech mechs. Mantle of heroes long past, passed down from father to son, each one embodying the legend of the Mantle that they've inherited as best able.
>>93168322its for discussion/help of adding stuff too the official Votom RPG and talking about running a game with him and a few buds I have>>93168616and theres the sly devil! so hey do you have any /personal messaging/ sites or apps you use in the back of the room? I really need help mastering Mekton as a system and tips for adding the stuff I personally find missing from the official Votom RPG for my own personal use, stuff like ground fattys, chubbys. the Anti AT Riffle ect ect
>>93168680Ah! You're the VOTOMs guy who loves toys. Can relate! You got a Discord username? I can message you there...
>>93168730unfortunatly as it stands rn my phone with discord is dead (can charge it though) and my main laptop is in the repair shop right now getting physical fixes and getting debugged. im trying too download Discord on my decade old tabletop right now. after that I can send my discord name too ya'. you could also send yours and I could add you after im done loading relogging into my info onto the new laptop. brb though im going to be smoking with a few IRL friends for a sec.
>>93168730and It just installed! here you go my frriend, my username is heydaymayday
>>93168890Thanks! Friend request sent, at 11:09pm pacific time. Glad that worked.
>>93156591>>93168631Both are pretty cool soundingMonstrance sounds like what a group of paladins would call their specialized mecha while Mantle is the more generic term
>>93164260>only kind ofTallgeese is a gorgeous beast and my favorite Wing mobile suit and easily in my top 5 all-time mobile suits.
Link related was mentioned last thread, decided to check him out. Cool mecha artwork.https://www.deviantart.com/z3ros/gallery
>>93175582Oh this is where that picture of Mazinger Zero with the Infinity Gauntlet came from.
Jiggering with some numbers, the weapons repertoire is set to expand threefold with new weapon variants. An example is the Handgun which now has three separate variants, the Tech-110, the Wonder 20 and the MR-BFR "Ranger".The Tech-110 has shorter range and lower ammo count but deals 2d3 damage, the Wonder 20 is the standard range 1d6 damage but is easily maintained, and the Ranger has more range and deals 1d6+1 but its ammunition is more expensive as well as its maintenance.The economy rules also feature new "Junk" variants of all parts that offer reduced performance but are much more easily accessible, which will then be integrated with the enemy list that will also be present in version 0.4.
Speaking of, shoutouts to that one anon that suggested giving the parts proper names. I took your advice to heart, and there's now an FCS named in reference to you.
>>93176052They should have production codes too
>>93178458They do. The example mentioned is called the FCS-L01 “Viper”. Still, thank you for the reminder.
>>93178458But if >>93178495 isn’t satisfactory, I am more than happy to take suggestions if you have any.
>>93155259Is just his kind of autism, he hates Eden too.
>>93158341Wait, not even Mazinger Z?
>>93180208Nope. Never watched one unless something like Sym-Bionic Titan counts. To be fair I've also barely scratched the surface with Real Robot anime as well. Most of my mecha experience and love comes from video games.
>>93180267>unless something like Sym-Bionic Titan countsaye, that one counts>I've also barely scratched the surface with real robot anime as well, most of my mecha experience and love comes from video gamesaye, most people are like that now adays. barely even touching Votoms or Mobile Suit Gundam. do your self a favor and go ask /m/ what old school mecha anime you should watch too cater too your tastes. or better yet do that here and I can point you in a direction
>>93184456>barely even touching Votoms or Mobile Suit Gundam.Well I've at least watched those. Not all of Gundam yet but I've been slowly chewing through UC. So far War in the Pocket has been my favorite. Also thinking about checking out Ideon at somepoint. If you got any recs I wont mind hearing them.
>>93184557try giving Patlabor a shot along with Obsolete, for Supers watch Mazinger and Getter, the OVA's atleast the original anime runs are jank. if you want the OG story just read the manga. a other really good super is Dai Guard.
>>93184557for Super Robot fare, I highly recommend Mazinkaiser SKL, Getter Robo Armageddon (aka "Change! True Getter Robo: The Last Days of the World"), and of course Bang Bravern. MazinKaiser SKL would probably be the easiest for you to get into since it's the shortest, and it's totally balls-to-the-wall & metal ss fuck.
>>93185314The opening for SKL is basically a death metal music video.
>>93184456>do your self a favor and go ask /m/Fuck no, every rec thread there devolves into e-celeb drama. You're better off asking on /wsr/. Pic related is a chart that gets posted around there.>>93184858>the original anime runs are jank.I've seen jank, old Go Nagai titles aren't jank, the word you're looking for is vintage.
>>93185573>every rec thread there devolves into e-celeb drama>posts the eceleb chart
>>93185622>coming from the guy that starts drama
>>93185573>>93185622>>93185689You two fuckers again - whatever /m/ drama bullshit you two have, take it there and fuck off.
>>93185573>Gundam Build Divers >not the original GB Fighters that was considerably more sovlful>not even the OG Gundam 0079 which is required viewing even if you don't really like the pacing just for how much it'd go on to influenceWow this chart is awful>the worst parts of Eureka Seven>calling fucking MD Geist, GitS, and Space Battleship Yamato "mecha" What a godawful, retarded chart.
>>93186141>calling fucking MD Geist, GitS, and Space Battleship Yamato "mecha"They are though? GitS even has piloted robots.not even the OG Gundam 0079 which is required viewing even if you don't really like the pacing just for how much it'd go on to influenceNot even top ten best Gundam entries and if you're going to call something fantastic that will include animation which does hinder it.>the worst parts of Eureka SevenThat is called plot.
bit of a specific question here. I'm looking for stuff I can play during downtime at work, so solo RPGs basically. I'll have paper and my phone. Are there any systems you guys would recommend for mostly just mech fights that don't need a tabletop set up? for other stuff I just roll with a dice app and take some notes but I'm newer to mecha rpgs so not sure what a good one would be for this sort of thing. I like autism and crunch
>>93186222>They are though?Hardly. MD Geist barely has power armor and it's only really in the last third of the OVA. Same with the other two, any inclusion of mecha is tangential to the central plot at best. You may as well call Cybercity Oedo 808 mecha since one of the episodes is about the Psycho Soldier in his power armor or Irresponsible Captain Tyler because the ship's Marines all have boarding mechs/power armor. I even recommend watching all of them, I just think if you're watching them looking for mecha you'll be sorely disappointed.>Not even top ten best Gundam entriesI disagree, 0079 is great. Fun characters, decently paced, great moments. You're heavily depriving yourself if you ignore it simply because it's dated. And like I said, it should be required viewing if you're trying to dive into Gundam since it lays down the blueprint that nearly every series afterwards follows.>That is called plot.It's called everything past the original series. Even the original series is heavily flawed but everything that came after makes it look amazinig.
>>93186445I recall some people talking about solo stuff awhile back, but not well enough to the point that I can make recommendations for specific solo games. I'm sure others can, though.On non-solos that could potentially work, i've been reading Embryo Machine and there's a segment for PvP that you could likely finagle into something of your liking for "just mech fights," and it's decently crunchy. The translation is free, and linked in the OP.You could also take a look at the Mecha Hack, it may work for what you want. Other than that, most of the systems I can think of that can have quick battles like to use maps, and I don't know how you'd feel about that.If you want a bit of story with it, I can't vouch for its quality but i've heard good things about Mythic Game Master Emulator 2E from at least one friend. If it really is good, that could potentially help you streamline things a bit.
>>93185707Not whoever you're thinking of, don't even know which eceleb it is, I just know it's an eceleb chart and whoever is posting it while saying "/m/ are all big meanies!" is definitely him.
>>93186731I don’t care.
While trying to figure out what sort of campaign i want to run, i accidentally came up with a whole setting that already has an established mech vibe.You buddies have any systems that would support a for-answer-fucked-ace-combat vibe innately i can look at for mechanical inspiration?What do you anons need out of a mecha system, anyways?
>>93187305Mekton Z!
>>93186737That's weird because it really looks like you're gay and crying about it.
>>93187305>setting that already has an established mech vibeCan you elaborate? I'm not sure exactly what you mean.
Given that I might very well not be fully done in time for the end of the thread and will be occupied for the rest of the weekend, behold - v.0.4 of LANCEHOUNDS, the economy still isn't done but Junk Parts are done and Junk Weapons are close to halfway done. There is also the beginnings of the Hostiles Guide which features generic enemy statblocks for everything but enemy mechs. You can also see the beginnings of the economy, which, given that this is the Armored Core TTRPG, features ammo costs as well as overall maintenance cost for bringing them on to a mission.Oh yeah, and like a crapton of new weapon variants too - and that's only about halfway there. It's only the basic weapons, all the heavy Ordnance are still to come as well as all of the shoulder weapons/equipment.
>>93185573That's the outdated version of the chart, by the way.
>>93185573>>93196971fuck off with your garbageit's beyond old seeing these same two mentally defective /m/ crossboarders spamming this shit every fucking thread. It's so obvious that it is the same fucking faggots every time that I cant see how it isn't a global rule 13 violation
>>93198267Might be adding fuel to the fire, but I'd be interested in compiling a chart of mecha media (not just anime) /mechm/ would suggest FOR RPG PURPOSES, as opposed to other qualities.
>>93159414>But Gilgamesh is wrong.No it's correct, you're just being anal and going for an absolute translation instead of a correct translation.The Japanese in the 70s and 80s had a poor grasp of english, they make mistakes too when they try to take english words and dump it into a katakana mold.The show uses Marduk, a contemporary of Gilgamesh, which gives a very clear insight into the authors intentions. Pretending its Gilgameth instead of Gilgamesh is retarded and you've been around the translation scene long enough to know better.
>>93199344OK, I don't love your tone here so I'm just gonna point out that you're taking an absolutist stance as well, just in a different direction. I don't agree with your assessment, but since since this subject is not actually of any import -- and, really, barely of relevance to the thead -- I'm going to drop it. I have some thoughts that are actually related to mecha game creation, I'll post them a little bit later.
>>93200067How clueless are you that, in response to people saying that the /m/ samefags should fuck off and be banned, would you think that anybody wants to see them being in more autistic slap fights, unless you were one of the retards on the other side of that slap fight. This just underscores the notion that they should be banned. What does the 1d6chan page tell me, compared to seeing two retards edit war on 1d4chan, a site that was basically abandonware, for ACTUAL YEARS except that they will never stop being insane and so banning is the only choice.
>>93200143>I have some thoughts that are actually related to mecha game creation, I'll post them a little bit later.It's later! So, I've been thinking about character "schticks." I'm not really a fan of characters Classes, nor am I particularly fond of exclusive skills/feats that only certain characters can ever use. However, I do think there's value in having some kind of distinctive skill/feat/specialty (or "schtick") that makes your character stand out.That said, I figure identifying the kinds of archetypes we think of for mecha pilots might help identify schticks. Here are some mecha pilot archetypes I can think of off the top of my dome:"Burning justice" hotheadSniper/MarksmanDuelist/SwordsmanBerserkerDeceiver/TricksterBigstrong McLargehugeRemote controllerTactician/strategistShow-offAnyone got thoughts along these lines?
>>93200796>1d6chanToo bad their formatting is still a load of shit
>>93200796Nothing wrong with /m/, my friend. Come and visit
>>93200796Don't ban people bro, this thread will just get deader
>>93200796What the hell is abandonware?
>>93200796Childish to say, but they started it
>>93200796Nah, go fuck yourself
>>93200796Can't be worse than the Heavy Gear slap fights, remember those
>>93200796I'm gonna slap your cock when I met you IRL
>>93200796Que?
>>93201515That was one troll vs everybody as opposed to two guys against each other
>>93201540Based troll nearly destroys general
>>93201540I'm here faggot, Heavy Gear Kings never sleep
>>93201447I'm trying to go for something like that with my four stats, it's also why I went for that whole "Liked/Disliked/Rivaled" mechanic, to have certain abilities inform personality and vice versa. Guts for your daredevil balls to the wall redlining guy, Handling for your technically proficient ace, Precision for your long-range sniper and Wits for your detached tactician. I think the main issue for mecha RPGs in general is that character personality and combat ability become two separate things, when really they should intersect and inform each other.
>>93201486Games and software that don't have a current IP holder to enforce copyright or that the IP holder simply doesn't care/forgot they had the IP. Heavy Gear 2 is an example of abandonware as Activision would rather shit out a new COD game every year instead of getting mad at people for downloading a nearly 3 decade old niche mech sim that didn't even sell well in it's day. Applying it to a website is semi-wrong but basically anon is saying it wasn't maintained well until it's death.
>>93200143Fair enough>>93201447I like this as well, I think archetypes work better than classes for mecha. Ideally archetypes give like hotheaded, tactician, showoff etc give you a bonus when you act closely related to your archetype. Something different, than "this archetype gets +2 proficiency bonus to comms".
>>93203276>>93201447One method I recently saw was from a more rules-lite thing but I think the core of it could be used well in more crunchy games. It had your archetype/class/whatever grant you a reroll 1/scene to your primary shtick. So the Professor McNerdpants can reroll knowledge and the Adventureguy Asskicker can reroll fighting. So on and so forth.
>>93203304Yeah rules lite games usually do a good job of that, but ruleslite and mechs don't mesh too well I think
>>93203859That's why I said you could take the core concept and adapt it. A reroll is something that isn't a unique trait or snowflake power tied to the archetype but has very real mechanical advantages and it's not just a boring modifier. Using the archetypes MektonBro listed as an example: Hothead - Courage/Bravery rerollMarksman - Ranged attack rerollDuelist - Melee attack rerollBerserker - Damage rerollTrickster - Charisma/Deception rerollBigStrong McLargehuge - Force enemy to reroll damage against them.Tactician (combining Remote into this cuz idk) - Grant reroll to allies. Or reroll leadership.Show-Off - 1 reroll on anything, but they take a penalty to the roll.
>>93201821>>93203276>>93203304>>93204173Ok, NOW we're cooking with gas. I'm liking the ideas here a lot! More thoughts later.
How small can a mecha be before its no longer considered a mecha?
>>93204451Should probably give some background info I'm trying to create a stealth oriented mech that's much smaller and weaker but also more agile than it's bigger couterparts
>>93158877I only know it from Exalted, where the Monstrance of Celestial Portion contains the soul of a Deathknight and allows a Deathlord to remotely punish them.
>>93204451I think if you literally wear its arms and legs on top of your arms and legs it becomes power armor
>>93204451idk, if the definition of mecha is a machine that you can pilot, then a 1m tall machine with a cockpit for a toddler is also, and very much a mecha
>>93204451Not a size thing.
>>93196971Cool troll attempt yo.
>>93147037How often do you prefer to have out of mech sessions and emphasize pilot abilities? I think it can be fun for a change of pace. It does bring up the issue of risking important personnel with a specific skill set when you can send someone else that can't pilot a war machine instead.
>>93204451>>93204532>>93204574>>93204705Yeah, mecha can be any size. Mecha really just means "machine[s]". Me, I tend to use the term to mean "limbed vehicle[s]" but even that is just a guideline. Personally I tend to file Powered Armor under mecha as a subcategory, and I don't even think mecha strictly have to be piloted to qualify. Size certainly isn't a restriction.For example, PlaWres Sanshiro is a mecha show where the fightin' robots are the size of gunpla. (A real forerunner to Gundam Build Fighters.) And if you insist on pilots inside, you'll find things like Microman/Micronauts, where the characters themselves are 8 to 10 centimers tall and they have giant (for them) robots they pilot. So IRL their "giant" mech would still be, like, smaller than a human baby.
>>93204806Ideally, I want each session to be about 50% out of cockpit and 50% in cockpit. Gotta get that roleplaying in! Naturally, sometimes that changes -- sometimes a major battle might take up the whole session, and occasionally there might be a session with no mecha action. Similar to how I've had many successful Cyberpunk sessions that saw no combat at all.
>>93204451If it's no bigger than a person, then no, I'd say its not quite mecha. If you've seen Jin-Roh, then you might have an idea since it's literally power armor. But if it is bigger than a person, say like the Landmate, then yeah it's mecha.>>93204806Depends on the game system and setting. 50/50 would be the go-to for anything. But if its a game where you can do more outside the mech, then I'd say 40/60. You also have to take your players into account. Some just want to mulch things with dice, so you gotta make it something like 80/20 or 90/10 inside versus outside. If people want to RP, then easily 30/70.
>>93204754It's not a troll chart. It's a true and honest update.
>>93205827We will ask our specops buddies to trace his IP, then we will come to find him and make him watch God Mars.Then we will SWAT him.
>>93206479>God MarsAh I see you're up to date on your schizo lore
>>93206479God Mars is one of the best anime of all time, make him watch trash like Dairugger or Outlaw Star instead.
>>93208545About time Outlaw Star got its undeserved reputation beat down a few pegs.
>>93164226Wait till you realize the Zeon grunts are supposed to be Zaks
>>93208350Now that I think about it, I might have that one mixed up with Mars of Destruction.
>>93208839Nah, that was meh, if you're going to serve mediocrity in a sucky level make it Patlabor. That was a real felcher.
Here's a question for GMs. I desperately want to run a mecha game at some point (system undecided, but I want it to emulate Armored Core roughly). In mecha media of all kinds, you see epic duels against one badass pilot, but how can you transfer that to a TTRPG, where players rarely fight alone and action economy is king?Say, in Mekton, how would you give the players an elite pilot to fight with an awesome custom machine without them absolutely demolishing him in one round due to having more actions?
>>93204451>Power Armor; fits snugly to the person, no real extension to their form, only enhancements to the current form. can be bulky though.>Exo Suit; can be a full vehicle or simply limb extensions, a middle ground more based around limiting the increase in overall height/size by the suit. blurriest definition.>Mecha; full vehicle, with limbs wholly mechanical with a drivers compartment of some kind. by necessity increases size by a noticeable amount, and often by several magnitudes.
>>93210978Not a GM so take what I say with a grain of salt but I feel like if you're going to do PC groups vs. 1 you could have your rival character be annoying to fully deal damage to, not that they don't do any damage. Maybe show deterioration overtime with every subsequent return. Basically have different thresholds on the total health. Each threshold that is met, describe what damage happens and then pull your rival out. What I might suggest however is to do rival regiments/companies/groups instead. That way the players can also get in an actual kill and not overthrow the whole rivalry, would also make the flow of combat easier with group vs group.
>>93210978I think that's a bit of a tough thing to do in party-based RPGs proper.
>>93210978"cheat"give him extra actions and the ability to spend them on counter/reactionary actions.that or "multiple" initiative ratings so he goes more than once in a round, separating out the parties actions between his own.basically stuff like this as however you can manipulate the current system. easy excuse too. hes a badass boss level individual, hes supposed to be "Broken" when compared to the individual player.
>>93210978I just take a rule from Fabula Ultima and let powerful boss characters take multiple turns as if they're multiple characters.Action Economy balances out that way and plus, who cares if they aren't playing by the rules, they're a big bad boss nigga
>>93210978>Say, in Mekton, how would you give the players an elite pilot to fight with an awesome custom machine without them absolutely demolishing him in one round due to having more actions?This is definitely one of Mekton's shortcomings. Everbody gets two actions, and if it's one badass vs your party of, say, four players... Well, your bad guy gets two actions vs his opponents' eight. Of course this is a problem that a lot of games have (and one that I'm working on solving for my game) but for Mekton it's a real toughie. Especially considering that a half-move is an action and a full move is two actions. I can think of a few solutions:Solution one is to cheat. Just give the bad guy more actions, because fuck you.Solution two is to create a house rule that applies globally to all characters. Something like, uhhhh... a character gets a number of Actions equal to two times the number of opponents he's fighting? Not sure about this one, but it could solve the problem.Solution three is to give your big bad a really, really formidable mech. In Operation Rimfire the final villain had a Mekton with a forcefield stronger than any of the players' Mektons' weapons. So no matter what they threw at the final boss, it was just deflected by his force field. It was noted in the book that there are only two ways for the players to break down the forcefield: one of them would have to do a very high-speed ram attack. It would severely damage their Mek, but it would knock down the shield. The other option was to deliberately self-destruct a Mek right up against the force field -- the pilot might or might not die in attempting this.So maybe the best idea is just to make the enemy mech super-OP in terms of defense. Either use assorted shield systems, or extreme Stealth/Cloaking ability, or VERY heavy armor (it would probably need to be X10 Scale design for that to work) or something along those lines.
Can anyone suggest a software or game I can use to generate character/ pilot avatars for a campaign? I've been using daemon ex-machina so far but want to know if there's anything else out there.
>>93210980For me it's:MECH = machineMECHS = machinesMECHA = machineryAnytime I see or hear "a mecha" or "mechas" I die a little inside.
>>93212464The problem with giving 'em a super OP mech that can't be scratched is that I don't want players to waste their turns achieving absolutely nothing during the fight. It's a tough conundrum. Giving them multiple turns per round might be the way, in Mekton turns maybe giving special boss character's the Let's Active! rule?
>>93212543>The problem with giving 'em a super OP mech that can't be scratched is that I don't want players to waste their turns achieving absolutely nothing during the fight. I get what you mean. Mekton's knockback rules can be useful for that. Like, maybe it's real hard to hurt the enemy, but maybe you can rattle him enough to take away his actions and then force into a trap or something...>It's a tough conundrum. Giving them multiple turns per round might be the way, in Mekton turns maybe giving special boss character's the Let's Active! rule?That might work! But I think Let's Active! maxes out at... 3 actions? Dammit, I can't find the rule in the books right now.There's also weapon construction for the big bad. Giving their Mekton weapons with autofire, or wide angle, or lots of missiles... attacks that can effect a lot of targets at once are a way of helping to balance the action economy too.
>>93204806SRW campaign guy here—generally we alternate between full roleplay sessions and full mecha combat sessions. But pilot abilities aren’t emphasized as much as personalities.
>>93204451By definition there is no limit. Power armor is mecha whether you like it or not.Red Eyes is a mecha manga.
>>93212464>>93210978Isn't there an optional rule in Mekton Zeta+ for tying number of actions per turn to piloting skill? That seems tailor-made for this exact scenario.
>>93212972Tell us about your campaign
>>93213261>Isn't there an optional rule in Mekton Zeta+ for tying number of actions per turn to piloting skill? That seems tailor-made for this exact scenario.Yes, that's "Let's Active!" like >>93212543 was talking about. I just forget where it is. Maybe in Z+ or the Tactical Display?
>>93213403I found it yeah. It's in Z+ under Advanced Rules.
>>93212503mecha machas mechadidoos meachadadas mechaies mechay mechasily
>>93213895Mechy!Mechistic!!Mechocious!!!Mechadacious!!!!>>93213503Oh wow, I'd forgotten it was based on Maneuver Pool, and it could go as high as 8 Actions. Yeah, that'd go a long way towards solve your problem right there!Huh. I guess we were a little more on-the-ball than I thought we were back then.
>>93213282I did last thread it’s the ones with the pilots each representing a different generation of mecha anime
>>93213503>>93213957I suppose from here it only takes a bit of jank magic to split the baddie’s initiative up into 2 action mini-turns, so it’s more of a back and forth instead of pausing for five minutes every round to let them take 8 actions all at once.
I actually have a pertinent question for this thread, one I ask because I’m reaching the point where I start defining my project’s setting, and that is - what exactly do (You) consider important in a mecha setting?My immediate answers are how the mechs themselves work should be clearly defined, mechs should be broadly available to enable more character concepts, and that you should have factions, groups that characters can do work for, against, run into and shape. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m likely missing a lot of perspective here.
>>93214858The ability to tell what the capabilities of a mech is based on the description given and past experience. That bit of technical and tactical analysis is something I hold very dear.If you see a giant boar monster in fantasy, you should be able to reasonably predict 'oh it's going to be hard to put down, and do a lot of charging and goring'.Similarly, if you see a particular model of mech that you've seen before in the past, you should be able to immediately guess what it can probably do and plan around that. And you should be able to tell what other things it might be able to do if it's a custom design or carries unusual weaponry from said description.Similarly, you should be able to extrapolate a general understanding on the capabilities of variant models based on the variants that you've seen before.In short, I think it's important that a mecha setting maintains and rewards increasing systems-knowledge.
>>93214858I think you're asking for things which are really based on personal preference, so I'll say this:I like mecha settings that take place in the future. Of Earth. I like mecha settings that involve Earth somehow. And I don't (generally) like the idea of mecha settings with lots of different alien races, ala Star Wars or Star Trek or whatever.
>>93212478Trawl through Picrew or DollDivine and see if you can find some that suit your needs. I used https://www.dolldivine.com/star-wars-an-avatar-creator to make this one just nowAt one point I'd found a Fire Emblem sprite mixer, which I used to make an extra-anime looking kid for a Mekton game, but I don't know if that would suit your purposes
>tried to make new thread >IP range got blocked from making new topicsThe fuck?
>>93215452It's probably with good reason.
>>93209317>felcherOh, you're that asshole. Opinion disregarded.
>>93217843Patlabor sucks ass so he's not wrong.
>no new thread
New Thread >>93219314If anything's wrong oh well I don't make threads often
>>93218118Yeah, the "felcher" spammer would samefag a lot too.Also avatarfag...>>93219086Oh how coincidental
