So I've been fucking around with Mekton Zeta since falling down the plastic hellhole that is gunpla building and I'm...

Shit, I ran out of Zakus

I'd say anywhere between 100 and 300 CP. I've been running a military Mekton game weekly since January 2015, and I started the gang on 50 CP Mektons. It gives you a lot of room to work if you're creative, and makes every point count in creating something really interesting and standout with the small allotment. I've been working them up in small chunks of CP at a time, enough for another magazine, servo upgrades, or a new weapon. They're at 125 right now, and it's a nice balance.

Since I'm a Mekton faggot, have every Mekton pdf I've ever accumulated.

mediafire.com/download/xi1lrrcziwrcm3z/Mekton_Zeta_Complete_Pack.zip

Includes:
Zeta Core
Zeta Advanced Technical Manual
Zeta Tactical Display
Zeta Errata v1.1 for the above three
Zeta build and character sheets
Zeta - Mekton Wars - Invasion Terra
Zeta Mecha Manuals 1 and 2
Mekton Alpha
3 different Fuzion rules and plugin books
Jovian Chronicles
Operation Rimfire
Homebrew Mek and weapon systems for Zeta (some by me and my group, others not)
Links to Googledocs automatic calculating Mek and character sheets (as done by me, you'll need to make a copy to test it)
And finally, a folder of screencapped references of the Zeta rulebook for easy access and reference during play

I'm almost tempted to rework Mekton's system to be both palatable and usable for Muv-Luv's setting; using the strategy game that was bundled with the fandisks as a base. But the workload alone, combined with being anal with the lore and how the TSFs work, are the biggest hindrances to whatever motivation I might have.

The only alternative I can consider is GURPS, which would make it easier to make the custom manuevers to represent the pre-XM3/Post-XM3 and has real world weapons pre-stated so I don't have to go out of my way to scale how much damage a 120mm round would inflict versus a 36mm round. But, in general, has had a lackluster vehicle management system for a while; I believe we're still using Spaceships as the de facto vehicle rules?

So, yes, mech systems are a crapshoot. Which is understandable, because trying to get something as inherently kinetic as a vehicle to the player while still making your system comprehensible to anything that isn't a supercomputer is a balancing act. It doesn't help that most mech systems on the market fell to the western design philosophy of being universal when, let's face it, we don't play Jovian Chronicles to be a space hauler when there are games like Traveler on the market that do it better.

Mekton is a great system for building mecha, but the packaged gameplay rules are atrocious.

One thing I've always wanted to do was build a whole new system around MZ+ that wasn't so fucking awful, but I've already got enough personal projects that I'm never going to do anything with as it is.

Have any of y'all played Heavy Gear or what have you online?

I've been considering playing with a long distance friend since neither of us have the ability to do so locally, but there's no real resource for it. I also have broken spatial awareness so I'm having difficulty trying to make MegaMek-style topdown sprites.

Why don't I ever see storytimes for Mekton Zeta and other such mech RPGs?

Man, I would be down for that. Go ahead and live near me, because I need an excuse to build more grunt gunpla.

I haven't tried but it shouldn't be that hard, there's a Vassal module for one of the older editions of the wargame.

>I also have broken spatial awareness so I'm having difficulty trying to make MegaMek-style topdown sprites.
I got you covered, senpai.
drive.google.com/open?id=0ByANMioHm0pvNjFxTmJUbkpwaDA

>Why don't I ever see storytimes for Mekton Zeta and other such mech RPGs?
There's a really small community of people on Veeky Forums who actually play mecha RPGs, and the battletech community, I believe, is more interested in the wargame than the RPG so they don't have a lot of stories to tell that aren't just AARs.

I'm wondering how that would work online with off-the-board artillery.

Oh man, thanks! That's really awesome

>There's a really small community of people on Veeky Forums who actually play mecha RPGs, and the battletech community, I believe, is more interested in the wargame than the RPG so they don't have a lot of stories to tell that aren't just AARs.
Mekton Zeta fans better either get more numerous, more humorous, or more talkative. I want to hear the silly things people do in their giant robots, because sometimes hearing about how the zany bard or rogue did something zany gets tiring.

I don't think a lot of people are going to be flocking to MZ any time soon. It's just not a very good system, honestly. Maybe if/when Mekton Zero comes out you'll see some more chatter about it.

The system depth is invested in Mekton design instead of skills and combat. You could probably graft the design stuff onto just about any other decent set of task mechanics if you were so inclined.

It's in desperate need of a new play system, but the mecha design could be put on top of a number of systems pretty easily. The mecha design system itself could also use some work though. It clings too much to lessons taught by Battletech and the like which haven't aged well, and there's little reason you couldn't get rid of a lot of the heavier math completely.

Was wondering if the old Net Mekton Mecha Book compilation was still around. Seriously old school stuff from when the Net was younger.

motoslave.net/thom/rpgs/
(about a third of the way down the page)

Which is to say, YES, I found it.

are you missing Zeta Plus, or did you just forget to include it in your list?

Maybe one of these days I'll try to storytime my group military Mekton game or my space and aliens 1-on-1 Mekton game. Both have their interesting tidbits, but the space one is much more my style, especially with the player being superior to the other three from my group game combined. Chief among her achievements includes splitting an airship in half with a drill after shooting it down, both with insane crits.

If it is missing, here's my own trove of all three Mekton editions.
mega.nz/#F!dshQRAQR!f1kXAUy-Z7vMDCy7j3OrnA

Me and a friend when we get together periodically play Jovian chronicles the wargame as we're the only ones that really dig mecha though another guy I know might be interested.

Mekton/Heavy Gear newbie here. I was actually converted from one of the Mobile Frame Zero threads.

Can someone walk me through building a mech and explain the dice system a bit better than the book does? Zeta version.

CP is used to buy parts for your mech. You start off by buying servos, which are the head, body, arms, and legs. Armor is bought individually for each servo. And then you use the space available in each arm servo to determine what weapon you can use. 1 Thruster = 1 MA and cost a fraction of your total weight in CP.

>explain the dice system
You roll 1d10 and add 20 (because lets face it, you're fucking intentionally gimping yourself if you didn't max out reflexes and the mecha skills) or whatever ability you're rolling (which will be reflexes 90% of the time in this piece of shit system), and add the relevant skill, compare to either an opposed roll or target number.

That's it.

You're honestly better off playing around with a spreadsheet like the one in with the book nearby to reference what the fuck is on the page. Mecha building is just WAY too complex.

...

Try this.

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Mecha Space Pirate Quest

Veeky Forumss running a mekton zeta campaign.

No one cares about quests. Especially ones too anally devastated to use the quest board.

...

>Mekton
>not glorious based Battle Century G

It still doesn't really do what I want it to, though

With a gun turret like that, what's the point of having a mobile suit operate it? Just put a gunner in the turret.

Less chance of the gunner making it out alive if they're engaged point-blank. An MS pilot can ditch the gun and resort to their regular weapons at close range.

The real reason is because it's cool

Always saw gunpla building through a friend, how are the models for kitbashing? Are you stuck with the designs are they come out of the boxes or can you take the pieces and shuffle them around to customize?

Depends. Most of my experience is with 1/144 High Grades, but those are pretty damn good for shuffling parts around. As long as the polycaps fit you can swap heads, arms, legs, torsos etc around. Used to do that a lot if any of them broke, just salvage bits and make a fucked up frankensuit

Oh Shit, here have another one

It isn't missing. It's the technical manual. That's basically one of the core books required for play considering how much shit it adds, and the automated googledocs spreadsheet I wrote up accounts for everything within it.

Easy. I wrote up a tutorial to go into my package of Mekton files, but here it is standalone.

dropbox.com/s/cioi4n4ovl9vmxl/READ FIRST - Building a Mek.txt?dl=0

Here's my automated Mek spreadsheet.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HrqFYexa2QrbEBJi0EeCmK5Fa8B1nD63aLHygAnLVvM/edit?usp=sharing

And here's my automated pilot sheet.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15HoA7laZEhLslI15f60V7ybARbEkUqPzF6lAdPMFNO0/edit#gid=0

I generally recommend anywhere between 55 and 65 stat points, depending on the power level of your game. Anything higher gets too stupid, though the book suggests PCs get 70. If you're playing with Psi powers, I'd allot 2-3 extra points. You can read up on stats more in-depth in the Mekton Zeta - Core Rulebook pdf, on [PAGE 24-25].

Conflicts that are resolved in rolls in Mekton are made with a simple:

1d10 + Stat (related to appropriate Skill) + Skill +/- Modifiers

When a 10 on the 1d10 is rolled, this is considered a Crit, and explodes, prompting an additional 1d10 to be rolled until a 10 is not rolled. Then the final results are totaled up.

On a 1, this is considered a Crit Fail, or Fumble. Roll an additional 1d10 and subtract this from the result to determine the final roll. Fumbles do not explode.

You have a number of Skill Points equal to 10 + INT + EDU. You may purchase any skills from the Mekton Zeta - Core Rulebook pdf on [PAGE 26-31]. There is a reference Skill list on [PAGE 27], the right side.