What's the best system for robot on robot violence...

What's the best system for robot on robot violence? I want to do a big multiversal giant robot game where super robots mix with Gundams and Battlemechs. I'm thinking of using pic related, but the strange to navigate rulebooks are turning me off it a little.

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I've very bad experiences running Mekton Z while the session I've run in the Battle Century G playtest went alright. So I would recommend BCG over MZ.

I've heard good things about West End D6/Mini 6 ad I've been thiking about running a game in that.

Though I'm mostly wondering how to alter the vehicular combat rules. Basically if I should scrap mobility and just use pilot, mnv+pilot/2, or keep as is. Because I know mnv+pilot is supposed mean that it's harder to hit a vehicle than a person.

It depends on how much detail your robot-on-robot violence needs. If it's quite focused on it, then Mekton Zeta or Jovian Chronicles is fine. Personally I'd use a broader system that can deal with situations like mecha vs. vehicles or vs. people or vs. ships all at once, so something like Traveller is good for that. There's actually a really nice Japanese mecha tabletop rpg that does a fairly good job of managing supers and reals, but unfortunately it's not only untranslated, I've no pictures of it since my last HDD croaked.

Avoid d20 Future. BESM has a mecha supplement too but it's pretty poor. I'd also suggest avoiding Mutant & Mastermind's Mecha & Manga system. Although it's fine in its own right, the mechanics of M&M combine the mecha and pilot abilities together for balance purposes, which doesn't mesh very well (read: easily) with pilots who may change suits often.

Unrelated to the system question and since I don't want to make a redundant thread.... how would you actually run a mecha game as a GM?

I think there would be be some problem with having such a hard, concrete separation between combat and non-combat situations via being in and out of mechs. And that could I think lead non-combat focused characters being very irrelevant.

Maybe do a troupe style with every player playing a pilot and a member of the bridge crew?

Also, would the typical Gundam kind of story make things military in the campaign and thus harshly railroad the players? Or is the solution just to not make things military? Or make it easy/encourage the players to desert if they want to? There's a load of double crossing in Zeta and such.

It's mnv+pilot vs FC+gunnery, so vehicles depend on a combo of skill and hardware. It should even out with the character scale.

Battletech likewise has pretty advanced rules for mechs pounding on tanks, but its firmly set in real robot territory and probably not that great at handling supers. Shame whatever SRW game you're refering to is untranslated, as that sounds like something I've been looking for.

FC is Fire control, right? I saw that in the Gundam Seed and Jovian Chronicles conversion but ignored it. Okay, guessing that's something in the main Star Wars or D6 books since I don't remember in Mini Six because Mini Six was what I picked up. I'll try to look it up.

Thanks

What bad experiences have you had, user?

If you can get used to the abstracted "battle map", Chris Perrin's Mecha could probally do the job for you It seems to handle "reals" and "supers" pretty well and seems to be made for both.

Mostly just that things ran at a glacial pace in both combat and even character creation.

I frequently run MZ though, and haven't experienced either of those problems.

MZ is far from perfect, and an awkward rulebook certainly doesn't help, but if you're looking for an anime-themed game of detailed mecha combat, you could certainly do worse. I'd suggest putting together a simple combat scenario for you and your players to run through. You can learn the ropes without worrying about how mistakes will impact the campaign, and if it really doesn't do it for you and your group, you can always try another system.

Your best bet is probably to do something like MSG where you have a lone ship with millitary and civilians mixed together more or less trying to find their own way while being unable to contact military allies. I also have considered making players double up on characters. On the other hand I have played games where we did not do that and we were fine spending 2-3 sessions at a time not doing any combat and doing other stuff without our mecha instead.

Personally I am a pretty big fan of M/Z , especially due to the detail in the MZ+ book, you can build just about what ever you want.

ORE

Mini Six is simple as fuck

Rifts is what you want. It was written by Kevin Siembieda, the greatest genius in Roleplaying History. His company is the longest lived and his systems are so good they don't need new editions.

I use Traveller for Characters and Battletech for the vehicles and such. The two are basically the same and it works for me and my group. However we use it to play in the Battletech universe.

just use battletech rules

Battletech can't run super robots very well.
Didn't they release a new edition about 10 years ago?

Doesn't MZ have rules for vehicles?

I have ran multiple games of Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles for years where those problems potentially exist.
It's actually not as difficult as you'd think.

Battle Century G is fucking god tier and is literally designed for what you have in mind, OP. Get the expansion for fun little options like elemental weapons, MSG-type resource management and Evangelion-style sanity-rending.

Mekton Zeta is dogshit. It marries all that is wrong with Interlock with a clusterfuck of a mecha combat/design system.

I'll bite the bait.

Fuck you.

Vehicle and starship rules, plus rules for interactions between each of them.

>BSG is god-tier
>MZ is dogshit
People are allowed to have opinions, even if they're objectively wrong.

Nope, the Ultimate Edition is just a re-print with a handful of clarifications that were originallly in the Rifter. All Palladium books with the exception of the Recon series are completely compatible with each other.

>objectively wrong
kek
Go back to sucking Pondsmith's cock and trying to justify why it's okay to have REF be the only stat that matters

How set in its own lore is battletech? Can you run it without issue or if its core universe?

Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?

Oh great now he's triggered.

Seriously op run what ever system fits your needs the most, I'm not but I had good experience with Mechton in the past if you trim the crap out of it.

>Landmates are real

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! At least our apocalyptic cyberpunk present has done something right.

I'm working on a campaign for Mekton Z right now and I'm remembering how much fun world building is.

Basic setting is far Post-Apocalypse with a heavily changed earth. There are lots of untamed areas but humanity is a mix of those reclaiming old technologies and those who managed to hold onto old facilities and bases.

The most interesting thing so far is reading up on how Earth would be if the moon were much smaller and if Earth had a ring- These two things are related! With a smaller moon our axis would roam a bit so the equator travels and there is a roaming ice age. Space tech is still messed up but long range communication is possible by those that learned to bounce signals off of the new ring.

I'm modifying mekton a bit, Reflex is now two stats, split between mekton and personal. Personal reflex is only used for vehicles like small powered armor and G Gundam-esque control systems.

Instead of using Rookie templates and careers I'm making character templates that the players mix. So you could be a Nobleman with a side template of mecha pilot.

I'm drawing from Big O, VOTOMS, Gundam X, Turn A Gundam, Xabungle, and King Gainer for setting ideas.

How would you build an Evangelion in MZ?

I'll bite too, fuck off NMI, go back to suckin uncle Kevin off.

Rifts is shite tier badly written muck.

I'll put in for Battletech and it has Mechwarrior RPG too. As mentioned you could look at Jovian or even Heavy Gear. I'm trying to wrack my mind as there's another mech mixing rpg but I'm struggling.

Battlemech is terrible for super robots, and is an entirely unfun system.

If you want to do an Eva game, you might as well just play one of the Eva specific games like Bliss Stage.

What if you want an Eva to fight your Roboteam?

Aren't those all terrible?

The more crossovers you do between different types of mechs, the less likely it is that a "simulationist" style system will be able to cover what you need while still being true to its source material.

Do what SRW did, grab a game that don't give a fuck about how the robots work, only the statistics important for actually playing the game, at which point you can just stat whatever.

>implying the most important stat in reality shouldn't be the most important stat in the game

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Adeptus Evangelion? Of course it's horrible; it's a hack of Dark Hersey that only exists because a 40k x Eva crossover fan fic became a meme. But Bliss Stage is pretty good if you're comfortable with story game stuff.

I've seen it posted in these threads before, but D&D4em at-least for the combat. Use either diceless, or one of the many hyper-lite systems floating around for your pilot's "stats," while your 4e "character" is your mech. Normally 4e only does combat well, and everything else poorly, but if you're only using it for the giant robot fights, then you're keeping the baby while throwing out the bathwater, plus "it feels more like mechwarrior than D&D" stops being a criticism and starts being a positive trait.

You can do Evas in MZ, it's not hard. Just do a big ass Technorganic mech with Thought Control, add Turbobooster and Beast mode transformation if you want to do a berzerking type.

\m/
youtube.com/watch?v=s7_Od9CmTu0

The reflex stat divide seems like it might cause the human scale stat to be a "dump stat", as most stats were made to provide advantages both in mechs and out.

Do you mind sharing some more about your template system? It seems like a nice change to the Rookie templates.

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That robot is my ideal woman
>Tiny waist
>wide pelvis
>thick legs and torso
>attractive face
>built in missile launchers

I like mine a little THICC

That's just fat, this is THICC

Here's one way to do it: The Giant Guardian Generation homebrew (and the "official" version it's become now, the name escapes me) suggests you take pointers from the structure of Super Robot Wars' chapters; you have a non-combat intermission, then a combat mission, then another non-combat intermission to wind down and debrief. Then you repeat those three steps ad nauseum with some variation thrown in as you, the GM, see fit.

>The Giant Guardian Generation homebrew (and the "official" version it's become now, the name escapes me)
Battle Century G is the name of the commercial version of GGG

bump

Why is there so little interest in giant robot based rpgs?

There isn't I'm guesing that people just got themselves covered already.

>Landmates is real

It already be a thing for years. Shit's will give cargos and manufacture companies a massive droll.

Think about it, when we replace those shitty EVA suit with 'Mates, performance will be nicely upped.

Most of eastern folks here has got their own ass covered by Gundam RPGs and Jov. Chronicles for gritty UC goodness, and tons of other materials too for the super ones too, soo they're just pretty much content with it. Dunno about the western thought.

Also, much of mecha's fun are comes from modelling and simulation games ala Armored Cores or Gundam Pods, or Wargames if in tabletop form so there's that.

How well does Mekton handle Super Robots

Best thicc robofu

Just play Super Robot Wars Alpha for a few hours and realize "Yeah this is actually the best way to do tabletop mecha violence."

You can probably pare down a lot of the stats, honestly.

>Attacks use AMMO or EN
>Flight and movement use EN
>Can move, use a Spirit/Spell/Ability, and an Attack in your turn
>Can Guard/Dodge/Do Nothing/Counter Attack on not-your-turn based on reaction/ammo/etc
>depending on the type of pilot you are, dodging hits/getting hit/getting kills/etc really turns your crank and your Morale goes up and unlocks your higher tiered attacks
>spend your dosh on sweet upgrades for your mech, reloads on your ammo, etc

If it's still not enough customization, you can grab Pilot Skills ala Z2 and get crazy shit like Move Again, Support Attacks, etc.

Honestly this summer when I have my vacation I might make this into a PDF myself.

There was another version someone else did, but I'm not crazy about it.

1d4chan.org/wiki/Giant_Guardian_Generation

>I think there would be be some problem with having such a hard, concrete separation between combat and non-combat situations via being in and out of mechs. And that could I think lead non-combat focused characters being very irrelevant.
Just run a system like BCG where pilot and mech stats are completely separate. Everyone gets to have a relevant mech without needing to minmax their pilots for combat efficiency. Also, the focus of the action should be in the mechs. There isn't really any need to force the game to have personal scale encounters.

>Maybe do a troupe style with every player playing a pilot and a member of the bridge crew?
You should really just talk to your players and find out how much control and power they want over the situation. They might actually be okay with just being the pilots and following orders. Alternatively, make the pilots a big deal. The players might be the special ops squadron, meaning they get a say during operation planning and resource allocation. Or maybe one player is the commander of the mecha unit on the ship, letting the player who's interested in that higher level of play get involved in the management and planning stuff, with the other PCs being advisors and such. There's plenty of ways you can easily do this, you just have to let your players actually be important.

>Also, would the typical Gundam kind of story make things military in the campaign and thus harshly railroad the players? Or is the solution just to not make things military? Or make it easy/encourage the players to desert if they want to? There's a load of double crossing in Zeta and such.
Railroad isn't as much of a problem as you think. You need to drop the D&D "you meet in a tavern" mentality and just embrace that you're running an anime game.

If players want more agency, have them do a Gundam 00 style thing where they can act autonomously. If they're fine with following a more structured story, the 0079 approach is perfectly fine.

Seconding this, Bliss stage is downright comfy.

No, AdEva is trash. Bliss Stage is a deceptively well designed system as far as rules light stuff goes.

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>triggered by the genius of Kevin Siembieda

It isn't too late, you can stop wasting your time with shitty systems and come to the Palladium fold.

Fuckin Guntanks man

What is this a spider-tank for ants

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Do not play this system, it was made by a cuck.

Please don't use my waifu for spouting dumb /pol/ memes

Meme or no meme the guy who wrote it is an asshole and isn't welcome around here.

See! It's possible to convey things like that without being a memespouting faggot.

Way to be a cuck to "proper english".

Just for shits and giggles I statted the GM and Zaku II for FFG's Star Wars and homebrewed some methods for how mecha work, because SW games work really well for mecha for various reasons.

Archive link because I'm lazy
desuarchive.org/m/thread/15205870/#q15242707

I might do a whole OYW conversion eventually when I've got the drive.

Hello, I'm the user that wrote the D6 Jovian Chronicles conversion.

Everything in it is extrapolated from the Heavy Gear D6 conversion (which I did NOT write, you can find it here: banzaidyne.wordpress.com/heavy-gear-d6/), and the d6 system is super simple so most things should be pretty self-explanatory.

>Fuckin Guntanks man

They're fucking deadly if done right (just like any tanks). This guy kill 6 Zakus on his first sortie, for instance.

The only relevant suit in the ground are Doms and TankSuit series, thanks to their hybritized platform. The original Guntanks are shit because the design was shit, when redesigned Guntank IIs rolled out, they're fucking steamroll, even if not as effective as Hildolfr.

The only reason I like the Guntank is because it fills that middle ground between Tank and Mobile Suit
I think you need to show that is a mech series, the step in between the practical armored vehicle and the super dope giant robot

>the step in between the practical armored vehicle and the super dope giant robot.

Agreed, the representation of the robotic's evolution is quite nice. Is like, there's an actual process in between of platforms evolution.

Anyway, let it rest for now before it becomes an autistic shitflinging, and have s'more mech art instead.

>and have s'more mech art instead.
Agreed

>have s'more mech art instead.
Speaking of, where's a good place to find good OC Donut Steel Gundam/Mobile Suit designs, other than Deviantart?

DA is ok but you have to wade through so much weird shit before you find anything good.

What about Robot on Giant Person violence?

Is there any system that you'd recommend for running a Macross game?

Battle Century G is the best if you don't want something super crunchy and simulationist.

It's probably the only RPG I've played where I'd consider the combat genuinely fun.

>What about Robot on Giant Person violence?
Silhouette, the system for Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles, is hands down one of the best for mixed-scale combat.

>Is there any system that you'd recommend for running a Macross game?
Depends on what aspect of Macross you want to focus more on. Macross is more than just a mecha action show.

>Silhouette
I'll look it up.

>Focus
Everything, though I'd aim for a more Cowboy Bebop scale. I want combat in space and in hollowed out meteorite cities, but I also know that they'll enjoy dealing with bureaucracy and flea market if it means world building

The aforementioned D6 system would actually work pretty well, it's a good medium between working detail and fast and loose. Battle Century G as well for that matter.

Something with a more cinematic style fits better than something detail oriented and tactical. That's never been what Macross was about. Macross is more like an arcade shooter, not Microsoft Flight Simulator.

>Everything, though I'd aim for a more Cowboy Bebop scale. I want combat in space and in hollowed out meteorite cities, but I also know that they'll enjoy dealing with bureaucracy and flea market if it means world building
I mean more how do you want to include and handle the "Fold Wave" song magic stuff. Plenty of systems could do the transforming mecha dogfights to varying degrees, a lot of them fail when it comes to that.

Actually another system that works surprisingly well for a cinematic style macross game and still handle the song magic bullshit is Fate. I've ran a few successful mecha games using the mecha rules from the "Mecha vs Kaiju" game.

The setting is more Macross inspired, since I don't know of many settings that have nice Giants IN SPESS. Even the bugs turned out to be music lovers.

I was thinking about making it more like Traveller. Give them one big task to do (Get to Planet XYX), meanwhile the PCs go off and do their things between stops. More mundane stuff, just with a bit of a Fantastic gloss over it.

I know some tools for that, thanks!

Robotech

>where's a good place to find good OC Donut Steel Gundam/Mobile Suit designs, other than Deviantart?

Search for scan archieve like Gundam Gallery, you'll find some gold that is MSV stuff that no one's may ever see before.

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oh fuck off with that 4E shit.

Strike! is better anyway

No.

I'll still say Silcore is the best way to handle mech. They do a damn fine job with it. Even if the complexity rules at first blush make no fucking sense.

>Even if the complexity rules at first blush make no fucking sense.
They don't make any fucking sense at any blush.

It's better to just scrap them completely for 2e skills. Use 2e's vehicle construction rules while you're at it, too. The better granularity makes for better customization options, especially when creating different variants of the same base model.

You know what just play 2e.

>Silcore
>The book with a nonexistant editing team and a layout team who were on nine types of drugs

I would if I could, and probably can, but I kind of don't want to.

It worked for me... but people seem to be looking for a dedicated system so w/e.

They're not looking for just "dedicated systems," they're looking for systems that aren't just feces smeared onto paper by a literal retard having a stroke for literal retards and called a "system."

So they're not looking for Strike. No one cares about strike. No one wants to play Strike. No one wants to hear you talk about strike. Fuck off somewhere else where people are more willing to entertain your stupid idea that strike is even remotely a good system in any way, shape, or form.

Show me on the robot where the bad manual touched you user.

you seem mad that someone created a fun and easily reflavoured system for crunchy tactical combat

The manual didn't touch me anywhere, the manual is so mentally retarded it's incapable of touching anyone. The only thing it did was drool all over my floor before shitting itself then going into a seizure. There's still drool stains. And we don't need your retard drool adding to it thank you very much.

I'm not mad about a fun and easily reflavored system for crunchy and tactical combat. I'm mad about strike.

Yeah, Strike! really isn't that crunchy.