What are your best ideas to improve a mecha (or other giant robot) campaign?

AKA, how do you suggest dealing with and/or enhancing...

PCs in a military hierarchy where they are the robojocks?

PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

Storylines / Plot hooks for mecha campaigns?

Genre mixing with mecha campaigns?

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs in a military hierarchy where they are the robojocks?

I'd improve by not doing it. If I had to do the military theme, I'd make them Judge Advocate, rescue, mechanics, SeaBees, or something like that to give a reason for some of the non-fighting missions. (See below.)

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

For combat, I handle this by making magic effect at mecha scale. Or if not magic super powers, gadgets, psionics, or whatever. (I have humanoid and mecha scales in my game.) Regular sidearms are not effective against mecha. But mecha scale weapons are available. This makes sure everyone can play.

For non-combat, see below.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Storylines / Plot hooks for mecha campaigns?

I prefer mysteries, rescue missions, and dungeon crawls, that just happen to include some mecha. Think Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor (half police procedural and half something else, even ghost stories) crossed with the Classic Traveller modules that had rescue missions, mysteries, and all sorts of different missions.

That way there is always something for everyone to do, with and without mecha.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Genre mixing with mecha campaigns?

Sometimes.

YMMV.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132What are your best ideas to improve a mecha (or other giant robot) campaign?
AKA, how do you suggest dealing with and/or enhancing...

Drumroll please.....

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs in a military hierarchy where they are the robojocks?

Always a good standby, but instead of military - make them a sports team playing football or soccer with mecha!

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

Mecha cheerleaders, sports agents, sports promoters, broadcasters, every sports stereotype coupled with mecha.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Storylines / Plot hooks for mecha campaigns?

Win the pennant! Blatantly rip off Bad News Bears, Major League, and Hoosiers plots!

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Genre mixing with mecha campaigns?

Sports mecha league!

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

I'd personally shrug and tell them to play a robojock. Not every campaign needs to bend over backwards for every character concept, especially when the theme is as all-consuming as giant complex robots battling each other under the supervision of militaristic hierarchies. I wouldn't bother with PC hangar mechanics or PC control room commanders for the same reason most D&D campaigns don't bother with PC farmers or PC elderly emperors.

You're not actually trying to put together a mecha TV show, just a team game that emulates the most team-gameable moments of that genre.

Warning! Hoary cliches ahead!


At a school for the gifted, all students are required to play a tactical sim called Heavy Armor Recon Mechanics. The most talented receive a fully-immersive cortical interface. For the elite players, however, the game is becoming a bit too real...

Unrest on the Jovian moons! Reports of military action, but the media blackout is ironclad. Intrepid reporters and activists engage in very risky next-level hacking techniques to psychically manifest themselves within the complex mecha networks in order to observe the action. Military AI is a bitch, though...

Vast underground networks discovered on Callisto, remnants of a lost civiization... of giant humanoids?

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs in a military hierarchy where they are the robojocks?

Rather than making them party of the military proper, I would make them part of a private military provider like Strategic Military Services from Macross Frontier.  That way there is some hierarchy bu also some degree of autonomy that a regular military unit wouldn't have.  It also makes thing like anime hair and the main character getting away with shenanigans more plausible.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

I would probably go one of two ways.  In the first, all PCs would be pilots and all the other characters would be NPCs.  In the second, some of the PCs would be part of a second group with some defined function during battles that complements what the mecha pilots are doing.  They would be an active part of the battle even though they aren't pilots.  An example that comes to mind is Walkure in Macross Delta.
[video=youtube;nbMH-vbM3P8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbMH-vbM3P8[/youtube]
They have a defined role in combat.  Those guys with the lines on their faces have fallen under mind control and the performance can snap them out of it.  Walkure is an idol band but they are right there on the front lines of the fight.  It's a little silly in a very Macross sort of way but it's a device for getting people who aren't mecha pilots into the battle as active participants.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132What are your best ideas to improve a mecha (or other giant robot) campaign?

I was under the impression that they were fine.  What is YOUR problem with them (and I'm asking for your reasons, not that you're wrong or anything)?

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132AKA, how do you suggest dealing with and/or enhancing...

PCs in a military hierarchy where they are the robojocks?

What do you mean by 'dealing'?  Most players I've had in my Mekton games were all Mechajocks and were happy with being given missions.  The few times they went 'renegade' were in setting and they came up with great reasons.  Like the one time, they decided and gave me a DAMN good reason, that their higher ups were corrupt.  (I never intended with their bosses being evil, I was trying for a morally grey sorta campaign, but my players 'deduced' that they were being used to cover up or otherwise do bad things that even the most jaded of observers would say, "Hey, that ain't right."  So I went with it, and had a blast.)

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132PCs who are not robojocks in scenes / encounters / events with the mecha?

OK, I have no answer to this one, but I have to ask, have you ever had that sort of situation come up?  Because when I pitch a game, I'm always making sure that my players know what I want.  And if someone wants to play something against the grain, I ask 'why?'  So far, I've never had any sort of conflict in that regard.

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Storylines / Plot hooks for mecha campaigns?

I steal from modern action movies, mecha anime and other sources with giant robots.  Hell, I have players who want to play in a Pacific Rim style game (but sadly, are averse to Mekton Z rules, because they want to make their mecha.)

Quote from: Spinachcat;927132Genre mixing with mecha campaigns?

Pacific Rim, the Movie does that, it's not that hard, see Jeff's idea below.

Quote from: jeff37923;927161Drumroll please.....

• Always a good standby, but instead of military - make them a sports team playing football or soccer with mecha!


• Mecha cheerleaders, sports agents, sports promoters, broadcasters, every sports stereotype coupled with mecha.


• Win the pennant! Blatantly rip off Bad News Bears, Major League, and Hoosiers plots!

Sports mecha league!

Which is effectively the premise Dream Pod 9's Heavy Gear Arena, a minis game I've used with hand made Pogs to a great, but sadly short lived, effect.

Ignoring the obvious anime giant mecha/school children tropes, I'd personally recommend checking out the Front Mission series. It is an oft-overlooked RPG from Squaresoft's history in the '90s. It is a tactical RPG replete with political uncertainty and many different shades of grey, with no clear indicator of who are  the good guys and who are the bad guys. Think of the breakup of former Yugoslavia, projected into the theater of a near-future Earth. Front Mission - specially Front Mission 2 - is story of ethnocentrism and geo-political struggle. Absolutely fantastic stuff: http://frontmission.wikia.com/wiki/Front_Mission_2

Military mecha? Or super-robot?

Western mecha? Or Japanese mecha?

Crucial differences. Vast spectrum.

The mecha genre, whether it is at the harder military-robot or softer super-robot ends of the spectrum, is at its core an expression of magical realism. Mecha do not work unless you accept a certain amount of magic within an otherwise rational setting. The military-robot end may tone down the magic in favor of rationality, but it is always there.

There are two kinds of magic in the mecha genre:
1) The first kind of magic in the mecha genre is the technological handwavium that allows for giant bipedal robots to actually work. You can make up all sorts of techno-babble justifications like synchronization and AMBAC to try and justify 50 ft. tall anthroform vehicles in a believable manner, but sooner or later you are going to have to deal with the fact that the entire premise of the genre is implausable. You are going to collide with square-cubed law and high centers of gravity. You will wrestle with the tactical disadvantages of a machine that towers above the horizon, has a high surface area to mass ratio, and has an absurd number of structural weak points in every single point of articulation. Ultimately, you are just going to have to accept the fact that giant robots are magical.
2) The second kind of magic in the mecha genre comes from within; emotions and "fighting spirit" are magical. Characters in the mecha genre can jump start engines, replenish ammunition, and push their machines far beyond rational limitations through force of will. You can destroy starships with super-charged hyper-beams simply by shouting really loud. You can bring alien fleets to their knees through the power of music.

A mecha is more than just a machine. It is an extension of the pilot. The mecha's form is the image of the pilot's true inner self. The mecha's power is driven by the pilot's motivation. The mecha is the pilot's other half.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;927201I steal from modern action movies, mecha anime and other sources with giant robots.  Hell, I have players who want to play in a Pacific Rim style game (but sadly, are averse to Mekton Z rules, because they want to make their mecha.)

The mech construction rules are in the Mekton Zeta Plus sourcebook.

Quote from: yosemitemike;927213The mech construction rules are in the Mekton Zeta Plus sourcebook.

There are generic versions of the mecha construction rules, roadstriker construction rules, and spacecraft construction rules in the main Mezton Zeta rulebook.

Quote from: jeff37923;927219There are generic versions of the mecha construction rules, roadstriker construction rules, and spacecraft construction rules in the main Mezton Zeta rulebook.

I forgot about that version because I never used it but yeah it's there.

Quote from: yosemitemike;927213The mech construction rules are in the Mekton Zeta Plus sourcebook.

When I said Mekton Z I meant all the source book, including the Z+ book.  I love making mechs, so I got (and still have on PDF) the two core (Or rather Zeta and Zeta Plus) books on my iPad.  It's just that they think the system is overly math intensive, and haven't clued into that I would make their vehicles to their specifications.  The fact that you can get fractions of a point is still mind boggling to them.

Quote from: Cave Bear;927210There are two kinds of magic in the mecha genre:
1) The first kind of magic in the mecha genre is the technological handwavium that allows for giant bipedal robots to actually work. You can make up all sorts of techno-babble justifications like synchronization and AMBAC to try and justify 50 ft. tall anthroform vehicles in a believable manner, but sooner or later you are going to have to deal with the fact that the entire premise of the genre is implausable.

It does amuse me that Char Aznable deconstructs this whole trope in the very first Gundam series:

"Your new mech, sir!"
"It has no legs."
"It's a space mech.  The legs are just for show anyways."