Best System to run a super robot game?

Best System to run a super robot game?

Depends on a lot of things. Mecha is a very broad genre.

Some people swear by Giant Guardian Generation/Battle Century G, but I've always found it kinda unsatisfying, even if it does a decent job replicating SRW style mechanics in a tabletop.

I've heard a lot of people talk about how D&D 4e can work for a super robot game, but that carries with it a lot of assumptions and requires a decent amount of refluffing, if not much homebrewing.

I've also personally used Legends of the Wulin for a more Kung fu flavoured super robot game, which worked very well, but again is a specific flavour of the genre rather than a general thing.

I'm not sure there are any systems particularly suited for super robots in general, it's just finding something that fits the specific premise you're going for.

There's not too many systems for mecha in general. Too many get bogged down in autistic rulesets for "customization" which makes learning the game with a whole group of new people a bitch.

A fair point.

I guess it's worth saying a generic superpowers system like M&M 3e or Valor would also work. Valor actually has square based combat and powers that can work in a somewhat SRWish fashion.

Big Eyes Small Mouth

Unironically, I recommend Mutants and Masterminds. Super Robot basically means robots as superheroes/plot devices so it works for what you need.

I figure you could run it on a 3.5 or 5th edition D&D with some flavor text play. You know, Flame Ray works as a eye laser or Head Vulcan according to the bot. Everyone plays a Warforged with some home brewing for the build in equipment rulings.

...are you my GM?

You'd still be better off with 4rry Edition. The character builder plus the more narrative like fighting mechanics are easier to justify there.

>I've heard a lot of people talk about how D&D 4e can work for a super robot game, but that carries with it a lot of assumptions and requires a decent amount of refluffing, if not much homebrewing.

Strike! fills the same function, but without the D&D trappings, and in a lot more streamlined manner.

Please stop trying to houserule D&D nth edition to suit completely different settings/game types. It makes me sad.

While I generally agree that it's a bad idea, especially with 3.5, 4e works weirdly well for SRW-esque mecha stuff.

Sure, just build your rewards towards repair, re-quip and the costs to upgrade a body in the Warforged format. Shouldn't be too far off.

4e doesn't take that much, really. Powers make arguably more sense for mecha, since they often do have those big one per fight scene or per episode attacks, while the various combinations of races, classes and armour types lets you represent a lot of different flavours of robot, from more mechanical supers like GaoGaiGar to some of the more straight up supernatural ones.

Lancer, obviously!

As someone who likes lancer, no. It's not a super robot system. They're on the high end of Reals, with a lot of crazy toys, but they're fundamentally mechanical and more reliant on skill and equipment than willpower and bullshit.

>AIs that are literal gods shackled to digitality
>Instant teleportation
>Viable melee
Yeah nah, you're wrong hater.

...Have you even read the system? It's somewhere around Gundam tier. High end Reals, not Supers.

>Gundam
>Real
Nigga...

Here's a character sheet. This was an AC inspired game and the players didn't go too crazy, so it's just a pretty typical sniper type thing, but it gives you an idea what to expect

Mootants and Mustahminds

Even if it's not Real, it's not Super. Even SRW puts it in the real half. Compare Gundam to say Gunbuster, Mazinger or Getter.

Depends on the gundam really.

Homie, Gundam is definitely on the real end of the mecha spectrum.

G Gundam definitely isn't

Yep. The exception that proves the rule.

If you want to be a sperg, late Turn A, AGE , movie Wing and movie 00 also are tenuously Real Robot. The original Gundam itself had the G-Bull, G-Flyer that combined to make Super Gundam.

So they're Evangelion units, which are de facto hybrids. Super Robot bullshit with Real Robot grit.

Combinations don't exclude it from being Real you idiot

And Gundam Wing gundams cried. And people came back from the dead.

Do you want to roll just a d20? Mutants & Masterminds.

Do you want to roll handfuls of d6es at a time? Hero System.

Honestly, DtD can be adapted really, really well for it.
It already has more in-depth rules for handling size and critical damage, and there are also rules in place for the managing of nonspecific "resource points" that could vary by mecha.