Is there any RPG setting (aside from maybe historical settings) that would not be cooler if you added mecha to them?

Is there any RPG setting that specifically WOULD be much cooler if you added mecha to them?

RPGPundit

In order: No, certainly so- such as FFG's Midnight.

I've had a hard time keeping a serious tone when I do cave-man mecha.  There are just too many Flintstones references.  It feels like it should be something really spectacular ("With dinosaurs hunting them to the brink of extinction, cro-magnon man exerted their mental abilities to find the only possible solution ... a weapon that can fight the dinosaurs on their own terms") but the devil's in the details, at least for me.

And, on the other end, I find post-future games more fun when the whole idea of technology being big is clearly obsolete ... when the deadliest things come in very small packages.

But ... Victorian librarians against cthulhu?  Better with mecha.  Samurai poetry contests?  Better with mecha.  Certainly the number of things that clearly are improved is much greater than the tiny fraction that aren't.

Everything is better with mecha.

In Harm's Way: Napoleonic Mecha is under construction as we speak! :O

-clash

In Mekton zeta+ there was an idea for mecha in ww2, using internal combustion engines, projectile weapons, radar as sensors, etc.

I suppose an 'alternative history" ww2 could be done where some scientist invented artificial plastic muscles in the 30's, and the frogs were right about not being able to get tanks thru the Arden forrest, so hitler constructed mecha to invade frogland. Other countries imitated this as mecha had an advantage over tanks: Being able to shoot downward at the thinner upper armor on them.

OK, alternate WW2 with tanks, fine, possible.

BTW, pundy, how do you define "mecha"? power armor? 30 foot tall mechs? Humanoid androids? What's the genre of mecha you're talking about?

if it's power armor, or small machines like the tachikomas from GitS SAC then they fit into more games than the giant robot versions.

Quote from: TonyLBI've had a hard time keeping a serious tone when I do cave-man mecha.  There are just too many Flintstones references.  It feels like it should be something really spectacular ("With dinosaurs hunting them to the brink of extinction, cro-magnon man exerted their mental abilities to find the only possible solution ... a weapon that can fight the dinosaurs on their own terms") but the devil's in the details, at least for me.

And, on the other end, I find post-future games more fun when the whole idea of technology being big is clearly obsolete ... when the deadliest things come in very small packages.

But ... Victorian librarians against cthulhu?  Better with mecha.  Samurai poetry contests?  Better with mecha.  Certainly the number of things that clearly are improved is much greater than the tiny fraction that aren't.

Huh.  That's the first time I've heard anyone else use the phrase "post-future".  Though it seems I had a rather different definition.


On the subject of the thread:  Mecha do indeed rock.  Even in D&D, one of my favorite things in the corebooks is the Apparatus of Kwalish.  It's a mecha-lobster.  That's awesomeness.

I tend to be especially fond of man-sized powered armors though.  I think it's just the appeal of jumping into this suit that basically makes you a superhero, like Iron Man or War Machine, but still lets you move around like you normally would for the most part.

Hm, are there any games that would be improved by the addition of ludicrously unlikely machines that work fine in Japanese cartoons but have no real relevance to any major genre?

Oddly, I can't think of any.

Frankly, if a game has mecha that is a big minus for me.  If a game has mecha and is not a game about mecha, I'll be playing something else.

Mecha in World War II? About as likely as a black officer leading white troops in the same era.

Too bloody complicated for one thing. Now add the lack of a powerplant light enough and powerful enough to get even the flimsiest mecha going. Then you have all those joints, armatures etc. to maintain and operate. We're talking about a large, slow-moving, clumsy, fragile thing. A German panzer III with a short 50 could take one out at 600 yards. Hell, an old French WWI 75 could take out an ankle with a shrapnel burst.

Mecha are nothing but samurai writ large. It's pre iron age warfare with electronics. Two champions meet between the armies for single combat, to show who has the bigger penis. Any army that relies on mecha is going to get its ass kicked by an army that spends its resources on simpler devices.

That's the problem with mecha, you're asking them to do too much. A war machine doesn't need to walk. It most certainly doesn't need to be bipedal. It sure doesn't need to use enough resources to build, equip, and maintain an armor brigade.

Now consider what's gonna happen when a mecha's head impacts the ground after a fall of thirty feet. The mecha's scrap. The pilot's worm food.

Can't think of a single game to would be improved by adding mecha. I can think of a few games that could be improved by removing them.

World War II with Mecha? :confused:

Maschinenkrieger!:cyborg:

Quote from: mythusmageMecha are nothing but samurai writ large. It's pre iron age warfare with electronics. Two champions meet between the armies for single combat, to show who has the bigger penis. Any army that relies on mecha is going to get its ass kicked by an army that spends its resources on simpler devices.

In reality?  Sure.  But I don't think anyone's advocating for mecha in reality.

But I like samurai.  I like the idea of two champions engaged in single combat.  So mecha make a side more interesting.  And the more interesting side always wins.  They are, therefore, the ultimate military tool ... if you're in a story.

Well, not the ultimate, I suppose.  You could have an arms race as people strive to achieve more and more entertaining and cool militaries.  Treaties to ban the above-ground testing of robot cat-girls.  A scientist defecting with the terrifying news that the Soviets are developing psychic girls with big, sad, knowing eyes.

But that would be silly.

Quote from: Dominus NoxIn Mekton zeta+ there was an idea for mecha in ww2, using internal combustion engines, projectile weapons, radar as sensors, etc.

I suppose an 'alternative history" ww2 could be done where some scientist invented artificial plastic muscles in the 30's, and the frogs were right about not being able to get tanks thru the Arden forrest, so hitler constructed mecha to invade frogland. Other countries imitated this as mecha had an advantage over tanks: Being able to shoot downward at the thinner upper armor on them.

Gear Krieg from Dream Pod 9. DP9 stuff ALWAYS seems to have mecha, which doesn't detract at all from the very awesome engine they have for characters.  Look for black hardbacks, all you need is the main book, the supplements are just that, suplemental.  WWII mecha, two great tastes that taste great together.

Of course.... just 'cause mecha are a great taste doesn't mean I like them. I'm sort of an 'antimecha' type. Anything bigger than 'power armor' just annoys me no end.

Quote from: SpikeGear Krieg from Dream Pod 9. DP9 stuff ALWAYS seems to have mecha, which doesn't detract at all from the very awesome engine they have for characters.  Look for black hardbacks, all you need is the main book, the supplements are just that, suplemental.  WWII mecha, two great tastes that taste great together.

I contend that the Gear Krieg books were written by someone who had never seen a war movie - they saw it said Pulp on the cover and started writing about hard boiled detectives, almost totally ignoring the grand tradition of pulp war thingies seen in Commando - War Stories In Pictures and such entertainment.

My pic for most disappointing product line.

I can rant for hours about how dumb the Gear Krieg RPG was.

In case anyone was mislead by my whimsical previous post in this thread, I was just kidding. I am not going to be putting Mecha in anything I write. Not my style.

-clash

Quote from: Erik BoielleI contend that the Gear Krieg books were written by someone who had never seen a war movie - they saw it said Pulp on the cover and started writing about hard boiled detectives, almost totally ignoring the grand tradition of pulp war thingies seen in Commando - War Stories In Pictures and such entertainment.

My pic for most disappointing product line.

I can rant for hours about how dumb the Gear Krieg RPG was.

Of course, we ARE talking about mecha in WWII...

I'd be happy to entertain your rants about it. I'm more into Heavy Gear and the like anyway. The beauty of the DP9 stuff is that I can safely ignore 90% of their products and still have awesome games....