Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[razorwise]

Heh.

Still have several folks working on the APB....Anime Powers Book...which does have a chapter on Guess What? Giant Robots.

I'm hashing out some details, but I do mention this on the latest update on the realityblurs website, as it's not forgotten. Check it out. (Shameless plug.) My personal focus has been, in the main, on RunePunk and bringing on board some additional writers and artists for these projects and others down the road.

Mecha have not been forgotten. I've been discussing the various issues with my regular playtesters/gaming group and bouncing ideas about.

Regards,

Sean
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[Emiricol]

What's up with this? Is there a fan-based (or heck, official or licensed) Big Robot supplement floating around? Where can I get it?

[razorwise]

[Noirfatale]

Why cant we treat robot and mecha like character?

lets say you got generic mecha ( one wound and they are disabled ex: tie fighter) and wild card ( take 3 wound like millenium falcon)

next mecha have stats:

Agility- ability to maneuver
Smarts- AI
Strenght- lifting power
Spirit - in some setting you could have living mecha (evangelion)
Vigor - Structural integrity

Then you can make simple edge:

One for size - one for speed - one for the type of armor ect...

Charcter are very simple to make, I dont see why mecha should be more complicated using the very same rule. Ill work on that.

[Bill]

Many settings have Mecha piloted by an individual so the Smarts = AI might not work. Moreover you may want to limit the Mecha's Agility etc. to the skill of the driver in such cases.

Next you are creating Mecha by edge. This might work for living Mecha but most settings don't have the mecha growing additional armor, weapons, new capabilities, etc. They are added as equipment. Thus the dilema of Mecha - enhanced being or vehicle/robot.

The Sci Fi Gear toolkit has a very nice method of mecha as vehicles that can be built. Not as much for enhanced being though or as a big robot.

When you think youv'e figured it out, let us know;>)
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[Zombi Bobb]

I just kinda skimmed to catch up, tell me if I'm missing something...

I agree with Noirfatale and in response to Bill's refutations I rebutt:

Smarts=AI: I agree with you to a point. True AI would just make the mecha an npc thus you just use the monstrous ability Construct and be done with it. But In this case what Smarts would be is sensor equipment, computer self-maintenance, over-ridable automated systems, fire-and-forget weapons and any number of other things an awesome computer is going to do for its user.
Agility: Mecha would need an Agility stat because you the pilot can jerk that control stick as quick as you want but servos can only respond and move mass so fast.
Edges: As far as upgrading a mech with edges, a beautiful tool this game utilizes is trappings. Mecha Edges would be additional equipment, an engineer tooling about and eeking out a little more power, a pilot customizing his big robowalker, whatever. Man I love trappings.

Also, Spirit would be important for Mecha as it is another portion of the computer. Again, its a matter of trappings. Spirit is the mech's emergency response systems, diagnostics, self-repair systems, ECM, ECCM, and in general a vigor for the software.

That's my hat in the ring.

[Noirfatale]

Also mecha like those seen in Eureka 7 or neon genesis are alive.

Life = spirit.

Depending on the type of mecha you dont need to be an acrobat to pilot one (with exeptions to power suit as in Bubblegum Crisis) so mecha agility is a very important topic.

Take a F14 tomcat (go see Top gun again its the big plane the american use on their aircraft carrier) every pilot know that it is far less agile than a Mig. (Russian fighter)

so you could say that a tomcat has D6 in agility and a Mig has a D10.

But of course you dont need all stats for all mecha. Giving a AI to a car ( unless its Kit from knight rider, the batmobile or some car in future setting with autonav) is not alway required so you can leave it at 0.

[Bill]

How you view the setting is really key. Once you have determined what your Mecha are going to be like, then you can design the system that will fit the setting.

I always liked the idea of a pilot setting so for me I would have a mecha pilot skill that would determine how much of an advantage you get out of your mecha. Likely I would have the lower of either the Mecha ability/skill or the Mecha Pilot skill. Thus a poor pilot in a good mecha would be a waste while a good pilot in a poor mecha would also be hampered.

Now if you were going with a setting where the mecha used the life force (spirit?/power points?) of an individual to "power" it's systems but otherwise had its own abilities and skills that could ignore the pilots scores then the only real need might be some kind of Arcane Background that allowed you to interface with the mecha (and explained why just not everyone could). Advanced micro-bots might reconfigure into anything the character wanted or needed given enough life force. It may even be that soul drain is the ability to power the mecha!

Of course if the mecha were more like allies (transformers) then you could just use them in that fashion with the construct ability and perhaps the character having a modified "beast friend" to reflect the mecha.

Lots of ideas, all based on settings!
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