Giant Mech RPG

[Enix18]

I've often had the desire to run a game centered around giant mecha (à la Armored Core), but I could never find a system well suited to handling the intricacies of designing and battling these massive machines—until recently, when I stumbled upon four intriguing RPGs:
Robotech
BattleTech
Heavy Gear
Jovian Chronicles
However, a little digging via Google has turned up no definitive information on which of these systems is the best, or at least good enough for a game in the style of Armored Core. Thus, I have come to tap the infinite experience of the Playground...

So, do you folks have an opinion on these systems? Has anyone actually played with them? Even if you haven't used them, is anyone familiar with the fluff side (I know at least the first two are based on other media) and how well that would translate into an Armored Core-esque campaign?

[Arbane]

There's also Mekton Zeta (http://www.mektonzeta.com/), which was designed to be a reasonably "generic" system for giant robots of all sorts. (So if you wanted to run a tabletop version of Super Robot Wars, it'd be a good one.)

[Tengu_temp]

I suggest Mutants and Masterminds 2e with the Mecha and Manga splat. It might be a bit complicated if you are not familiar with the system, but it lets you build a really wide variety of characters and mecha, both real- and super-types, and it works well for all of them.

From the other systems mentioned here, I'm familiar only with two:
Mekton Zeta bases on Cyberpunk 2020 rules, which I really don't like, is overtly random, has overcomplicated mecha creation rules and really doesn't work well for supers or more elaborate reals. I'd advise against it.
Battletech covers western-type mecha, barely humanoid tanks on legs with lots of shooting, little dodging and no melee. It fits this kind of setting well, but doesn't really work for more humanoid robots.

Apart from that, there is also BESM 3e, but it's inferior in pretty much every way to M&M.

[Erloas]

Battletech's RPG book is called A Time of War. I read through the pre-release intro rules a few years ago but never got a chance to try the system. Someone I know had played the old version and he said he didn't like it, but I don't know why and I have no idea how much has changed since then, since the new version was released about a year ago if I remember correctly.

Two potential benefits to the system is that it has about 25 years worth of history built into it, including 30-50ish novels, and that the RPG rules are supposed to allow scaling up into the other rules systems for the game. The background covers a long period of time with several major events happening between eras so you can choose fairly different atmospheres in the same universe and depending how much technology and support a group might want. Some eras are very much flourishing, others resources are hard to come by and even getting very basic technology can be hard and its much more survival based.
I'm not sure how well they integrated the systems, they claimed to have done a lot in that regard but I can't say how well they accomplished it. The claim is that you could run the RPG rules for infiltrating a base to cut power to the defenses and as you leave jump into your 'Mechs and use the "classic" rules to a skirmish fight as you leave and then go to the "strategic*" level rules to run a massive battle for the planet including more units then could be run in any of the other systems. *I forget what they actually call this level

And all 3 systems use the same rules for equipment costs and availability and there is a fair amount out there for campaign support, which isn't generally the case for table top war games, which the Classic Battletech is.

As for melee combat as mentioned above, it depends on the era. The Clans find melee combat to be dishonorable. The Inner Sphere uses it in desperation a lot but it is almost never a primary form of combat. And during the worst times of the Succession Wars and during part of the Jihad and Dark Ages where things go much more into a survival mode and replacement weapons and ammo is hard to come by then improvised melee weapons see a lot more use. And the rules cover picking up a 'Mechs arm or leg after its been shot off and using it to bash someone else with. Mobility is a huge part of the classic game (which I'm much more familiar with) and its the primary form of defense for the smaller 'Mechs, though its not dodging in a mechanical sense, more of in an implied sense. I'm not sure how its handled on the RPG level.

[Pyrophilios]

As a long time Mechwarrior 3/CBT RPG player and GM I like the system quite a lot. In the most basic form it depends on having the tabletop rules at hand to switch from RPG to tactical combat on a hexmap.
With "Guide to Solaris" there are options to stay in system for mech fights. Furthermore you are no longer bound to use only hex maps but also grids.

In scale there are the real mechs ranging from 100 to 20 tons, protomechs from 9 to 2 tons and Battlearmor from 2 to 0,4 tons.

Melee is always an option and quite often a really good one.

The techlevel can be anything between super advanced cyborg-ninja-zombie-assassins (called Manei Domini) and old west frontier worlds with cattle drives and Indians trying to drive you of their land (granted, they probably ride on old hovertransporters or agri(cultural)mechs).

As was said before: 25 years ad up to a lot of options within a developed mythology...

[leakingpen]

Mechwarrior is a LOT of time spent fiddling with points and optimizing your mech. Its very much a powergamer kinda game. Robotech is more of an RPG, with mechs. Myself, I'm looking forward to Aegis Forge (mech rpg being currently written,

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208995

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I've currently been gaming with Mecha RPG (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=82258), which has proven to be an interesting system so far. Here's a link (http://playerside.blogspot.com/search/label/dgr) to my summaries of the play so far.

I will note that my gamers are big into story, they actually don't generally enjoy the combats nearly as much, and so character scenes go very long, and develop lots of tasty plot hooks that I can bring together to make a dramatic story.

The non-combat parts are very rules-lite, and supposed to be focused on character interactions. It uses a cool scene-based model, which is rather freeing in some respects. It removes that perceived need to chronicle every moment of adventuring, and it makes the game less about adventuring and more about constructing a story with the characters.

It's a system where splitting the party is very easy to manage, and isn't a death sentence.

Combat is abstract, still tactical, and very cinematic. There's some rules that make sense and serve to keep the game in-genre and balanced. The weapons system allows for total freedom of choice for players, while still maintaining game balance. The idea of rolling "stability saves" against the total damage you've taken is also very cool, especially with how it prevents you from dying unless you choose to submit yourself to the risk of going down.

I would have a browse through the very extensive quickstart (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=79879) that exists for Mecha, and if you like what you see, snag the system.

It does require some GM input to really shine, but it's a great framework to build a game out of. If you're looking to build a campaign based on a pre-existing story, that's probably enough material to tweak.

[LibraryOgre]

Generally, I would advise against Robotech. It's unlikely to see much future support since Jason Marker (the primary writer) was let go, and the rules system can be a bit wonky. There's some good material in there, but I wouldn't make it my primary game.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Aren't Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles two games based on the same core mechanics (Silhouette Core, specifically?) Basically Heavy Gear is for ground-pounding MechWarrior games and Jovian Chronicles is for Gundam-ish space battles.

Regardless, those two are a little rules-heavy for myself. I don't know about Robotech, and I know BattleTech is more for tactical wargames than a 1-player-1-character roleplaying game. Its spinoff, MechWarrior, has already been covered now that I look at this thread.

Mekton Zeta is fun only if you like a) a lot of number-crunching during mecha creation and b) old-school 80's/90's-style RPGs where everything in character creation is hilariously random and most things during actual gameplay are a curbstomp for one side or the other (not much randomness in 1d10+skill+stat, oddly).

All in all, I've gotten some really great games and fights out of Mutants & Masterminds 2e + the Mecha & Manga expansion.

[Tyndmyr]

D20 M has a light version of mecha rules.

I'm currently engaged in rectifying them, and making them awesome. Heat, power, things of that nature.

[The Glyphstone]

There's Cthulhutech, if you go for the Evangelion-style giant mecha instead of Gundam/Armored Core mecha.

[Nerd-o-rama]

CthulhuTech kinda has both, actually. Giant cyborg abomination Engels (original concept do not steal) and regular old metallic Sword-class mecha on the good-ish guy side. Engels are generally superior, but they require regular sanity checks from their pilots for obvious reasons.

However, as much as I like CthulhuTech's setting, I really can't get behind the rules. Especially for mecha combat. Just trying to figure out movement is a chore.