Yeah, the Ramayana is fair fruit for the pickings as well, since it's full of vimana...and monkeys!

Gilga-mech vs Ram-A.

Upon further research, it appears the mecha-of-stone thing has already been done - it's called RahXephon.  This is what I get for being out of the anime loop.

Back to square one.

Hm, I haven't seen that one but the Wikipedia article says it's the monsters that are made of stone...and that this is similar to yet another anime, Raideen.

But...so what? Anime aren't known for their originality, and in an RPG you can even call it an hommage.

Here's an idea I think that might fit in with both the "stone" thing and the ancient near eastern deal: the mecha in the game are actually from an ancient civilization. This either preceded the culture of the PCs, or it's become decadent to the point that present-day folks don't fully understand the old technology, including the "stone-like" advanced ceramic construction.

Now it's up to you if the mecha names refer to "classes" of mecha (real robot fashion) or, what might be cooler, unique individual mecha, each one of which is the "protector" of a given city or planet (giant robot fashion), with the pilot(s) of each being specially cultivated by theocratic hierarchies descended from the ancient teams of scientists that developed and maintained the mecha.

I love near-eastern, and I'm heavily leaning borrowing Egyptian concepts.  Humanoid mecha with theriomorphic heads would be pretty cool.  And giant scarab walker-tanks.  Transforming pyramids.  Maybe a mummy in golden power-armor?

There's a good deal to be toyed with there from the Ptah angle as well, in the mecha construction backstory.

And I'm with you on the "more individualized" mechs.  I'm okay with the enemy having lots of [blah]-class mechs, but I prefer my PCs to be a little more 'super-robot'.  I mean, the 'Horus' mech has to be a big deal - there can't be a hundred of them running around.

I look forward to embracing the semi-camp prospects as well.  Nor do I mind blurring the line between 'ancient super-tech' and 'magic', if it ends up feeling right.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;333999Here's an idea I think that might fit in with both the "stone" thing and the ancient near eastern deal: the mecha in the game are actually from an ancient civilization. This either preceded the culture of the PCs, or it's become decadent to the point that present-day folks don't fully understand the old technology, including the "stone-like" advanced ceramic construction.

This is actually exactly the notion that I had in mind with the Sitchin angle.  The ceramic "stone" mecha are virtually inscrutable artifacts from a long-forgotten civilsation.  This idea has an added benefit: the first generation of contemporary mecha pilots are going to be a misfit lot of crackpot adventurers-cum-archaeologists who are the first to track them down and dig them out.  How cool is that?

!i!

Just my own two cents worth here...

A good model for the concept of mecha in anime is to think of the Greek mythology, where you had Gods and Heroes who still had feet of clay because they exhibited human weaknesses of the spirit - which parallels nicely the incredible power of a mecha with the limitations of the human pilot inside of it. Maybe not a perfect example, but a different lens to view your project with.

hmmm...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...

...Well, why not Napoleon's campaigns in europe?  War and Peace anyone?

...Or, The charge of the Light (mech) brigade?

...If you do go Arthurian may I suggest dropping the Arthurian names and places and just use the story line and themes.  Personally it's a much more tasteful way of doing a mash-up.

I've essentially sold myself on the Egyptian thing (possibly a Egyptian/Greek thing) at this point, but I must say that the Napoleonic idea is brilliant.

Once I get some stuff on paper concept-wise (probably this weekend), I'll post it.  This is the design forum, after all.  Although I wonder if it needs a new thread.

hmmm...now how would I go about developing Napoleonic mecha.  Well first off I think they should be rare and powerful.  One thing that always bothered me about Gear Krieg was that they made the Gears common and of questionable utility.  Also, I don't want to up the tech level and turn it into another tedious steam punk game.  So, no zepplins, however your own notion fits with this quite well as Napoleon fought an Egyptian campaign IRRC.  I'm not a Napoleonic scholar but I'm pretty sure about this.

So, let's do the "engines of the gods" thing and make the mecha left-overs from the true builders of the pyramids shall we?  I'm thinking they weren't dedicated engines of war and are still somewhat vulnerable to massed musket fire and cannonade.  There's not enough of them to truly alter history and what's this?  It seems the British and the Prussians both have some of their own from other sources with somewhat different characteristics.

Lastly, I'm thinking they weren't really built for humans and have deleterious effects on those who spend too long in their sarcophagi.

If I was doing it in 28mm I'd use Bionicles.

If you have an Arthur analog and a Lancelot analog and Merlin analog and a Guinevere analog, then, yeah, it's overdone. But all of the sources in your original post, and several of those in the replies, have similar basic forms: a body of champions above the common man in skill and destiny and pledged to a common quest or ideal fight solo combats with the aid of some pretty nifty equipment against equally powerful foes.

Take that as your core, and refrain from adding in any blatantly Arthurian references, and you're good.

What the quest or ideal is, what the special destiny is, what the nifty equipment is are all set dressing. It helps to be original here, too. But nothing is truly original. There will always be someone who has "done that" before. The best you can hope for is an innovate rearrangement of existing elements. Concentrate more on being good than original.

Let's try a post-apocalyptic setting with lots of remnant technology scattered around but the infrastructure for supporting that technology gone. One much reduced city has managed to hang on to a fair amount of technology and pre-apocalypse civilized mores. They are the only known operator of biodroids, armoured suits thrice the height of a man. Bioroids are armoured with ceramic and carbon plates. Motive power is provided by artificial organic muscles. The pilot is cocooned in the torso. The suit extends tendrils through the GI tract to feed the pilot and eliminate waste, through the lungs to provide oxygen and remove CO2, pierces the skin in thousands of places to read motor inputs for its own muscles, and along the optic nerves to provide sensory data to the pilot and receive non-motive commands. Long term exposure to only the suits sensory inputs is emotionally damaging. The ability to craft new shell plates is lost, so plates are scavenged from other, more decrepit machines or copied in steel. Also lost is the technology to tune the suits to their pilots, so pilots must match the last tuned setting that suit. A mismatch of pilot and suit makes control very difficult and results in an allergic reaction in pilot, suit, or both that is similar to organ rejection after surgery. Very bad.

The city may have the most technology in the known world, but they don't have a complete set, as it were, and have recently discovered they need more technology to preserve what they have. The world outside the control of the city is a hostile and dangerous place. The suits are sent in quest of needed technology as most likely to succeed. Suits need to eat and drink, but in doing so also feed and water the pilot. Pilots do not need to exit the suit for any reason. They may exit the suit voluntarily to explore areas too tight for the suit, to receive the gratitude of the locals for any minor acts of derring do they perform in the course of their quest, or simply to sleep in a bed rather than standing up and to feel sheets with their own skin. A set of clothes is carried in an external compartment for these occasions.

Hazards in the world include operational tanks in the employ of local tyrants. These machines are better armoured than the suits, faster in open terrain, and carry a gun powerful enough to smash a suit in one shot. Have fun.